Wolverine Ecology in Western Canada

Wolverines are wide-ranging, low-density carnivores increasingly threatened by habitat fragmentation and climate change. Poisson Consulting team members have been at the forefront of wolverine research in the Columbia Mountains of British Columbia for over a decade, combining bait-station surveys, GPS telemetry, camera trapping, and genetic sampling.

Key contributions include estimating detection factors at bait stations to improve survey design (Kortello et al., 2024, Ecosphere), mapping winter distribution mechanisms across a complex mountain landscape (Kortello et al., 2019, Wildlife Biology), and assessing the sustainability of trapping harvest in southern Canada (Mowat et al., 2020, The Journal of Wildlife Management).

This field-based program fed into a global synthesis on wolverine conservation ecology (Fisher et al., 2022, Global Ecology and Conservation), providing applied insights on how monitoring and harvest management can support the persistence of this climate-sensitive species in a warming world.