Integrating basic and applied research to estimate carnivore abundance.

A clear connection between basic research and applied management is often missing or difficult to discern. We present a case study of integration of basic research with applied management for estimating abundance of gray wolves (Canis lupus) in Montana, USA. Estimating wolf abundance is a key component of wolf management but is costly and time intensive as wolf populations continue to grow.

A framework for collaborative wolverine connectivity conservation.

Maintaining connectivity between high-elevation public lands is important for wolverines and other species of conservation concern. This work represents the first effort to prioritize wolverine connectivity under future climate conditions using a systematic conservation planning framework. We optimized 10, 15, 20, and 50% of habitat features for wolverines using integer linear programming.

Evidence of economical territory selection in a cooperative carnivore.

As an outcome of natural selection, animals are probably adapted to select territories economically by maximizing benefits and minimizing costs of territory ownership. Theory and empirical precedent indicate that a primary benefit of many territories is exclusive access to food resources, and primary costs of defending and using space are associated with competition, travel and mortality risk. A recently developed mechanistic model for economical territory selection provided numerous empirically testable predictions.

Landscape genetics of wolverines (): scale-dependent effects of bioclimatic, topographic, and anthropogenic variables.

Climate change can have particularly severe consequences for high-elevation species that are well-adapted to long-lasting snow conditions within their habitats. One such species is the wolverine, , with several studies showing a strong, year-round association of the species with the area defined by persistent spring snow cover. This bioclimatic niche also predicts successful dispersal paths for wolverines in the contiguous United States, where the species shows low levels of genetic exchange and low effective population size.

Home range size and resource use by swift foxes in northeastern Montana.

Swift foxes () are endemic to the Great Plains of North America, but were extirpated from the northern portion of their range by the mid-1900s. Despite several reintroductions to the Northern Great Plains, there remains a ~350 km range gap between the swift fox population along the Montana and Canada border and that in northeastern Wyoming and northwestern South Dakota. A better understanding of what resources swift foxes use along the Montana and Canada border region will assist managers to facilitate connectivity among populations.

Wolverine gene flow across a narrow climatic niche.

Wolverines (Gulo gulo) are one of the rarest carnivores in the contiguous United States. Effective population sizes in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, where most of the wolverines in the contiguous United States exist, were calculated to be 35 (credible limits, 28 52) suggesting low abundance. Landscape features that influence wolverine population substructure and gene flow are largely unknown.