The Sustainability of Wolverine Trapping Mortality in Southern Canada

Range declines, habitat connectivity, and trapping have created conservation concern for wolverines throughout their range in North America. Previous researchers used population models and observed estimates of survival and reproduction to infer that current trapping rates limit population growth, e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of wildlife management 2020-02, Vol.84 (2), p.213-226
Main Authors: MOWAT, GARTH, CLEVENGER, ANTHONY P., KORTELLO, ANDREA D., HAUSLEITNER, DORIS, BARRUETO, MIRJAM, SMIT, LAURA, LAMB, CLAYTON, DORSEY, BENJAMIN, OTT, PETER K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Capture-recapture studies
Demographics
DNA
genetic sampling
genetic tagging
Gulo gulo
harvest
Management and Conservation
Mortality
Population growth
Snow cover
spatial capture‐recapture
Sustainability
Trapping
Wildlife habitats
Wildlife management
Wildlife refuges
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Range declines, habitat connectivity, and trapping have created conservation concern for wolverines throughout their range in North America. Previous researchers used population models and observed estimates of survival and reproduction to infer that current trapping rates limit population growth, except perhaps in the far north where trapping rates are lower. Assessing the sustainability of trapping requires demographic and abundance data that are expensive to acquire and are therefore usually only achievable for small populations, which makes generalization risky. We surveyed wolverines over a large area of southern British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, used spatial capture-recapture models to estimate density, and calculated trapping kill rates using provincial fur harvest data. Wolverine density averaged 2 wolverines/1,000 km² and was positively related to spring snow cover and negatively related to road density. Observed annual trapping mortality was >8.4%/year. This level of mortality is unlikely to be sustainable except in rare cases where movement rates are high among sub-populations and sizable untrapped refuges exist. Our results suggest wolverine trapping is not sustainable because our study area was fragmented by human and natural barriers and few large refuges existed. We recommend future wolverine trapping mortality be reduced by ≥50% throughout southern British Columbia and Alberta to promote population recovery.
ISSN:0022-541X
1937-2817
DOI:10.1002/jwmg.21787