Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

This project will evaluate habitat selection patterns of lynx (Lynx canadensis) at the southeastern edge of their distribution in Ontario, as a means of validating a lynx Habitat Suitability Model being developed for the province. Specifically, we will evaluate coarse- and fine-scale movement patterns and determine the degree of concordance between observed landscape and habitat utilization patterns from emperical landscape genetic data and genetic dispersal estimates versus patterns predicted from the Habitat Suitability Model. The model will be applied over an array of landscapes in Ontario to assess its broader applicability and to identify attributes of the forest landscape in the southern range that are potentially important to marginal lynx populations. Such findings will provide relevant guidelines from a forest management and policy perspective as observed through the committed and putative partnerships with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (OMNR) and the Forest Ecosystem Science Cooperative, respectively. Ultimately, the application of the validated model will be relevant for other Canadian and US jurisdictions to test its broader utility to other lynx populations. This is particularly important for US lynx populations that are currently listed as "Threatened" under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). There is a recognized need for international cooperation for management and conservation of Canadian lynx and this project represents the early phase of a larger-scale international initiative.