DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f4qrfj6vc
title: Data from: Southern range dynamics of Canada lynx over seven decades

description: The range of the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) has contracted
 substantially from its historical range. Using harvest records, we found
 that the southern range of the lynx in Ontario in the late 1940s collapsed
 and then, in a short period of time, increased to its largest extent in
 the mid-1960s when the lynx range spread south of the boreal forest for a
 decade. After this expansion the southern range contracted northwards
 beginning in the 1970s. Most recently, there has been a slight expansion
 between 2010-2017. We have attributed these dynamics on the southern range
 periphery to the fluctuation of the boreal lynx population in the core of
 the species’ range. In addition, connectivity to boreal lynx populations
 and snow depth seemed to condition whether the lynx expanded into an area.
 However, we did not find any evidence to suggest that these changes were
 due to anthropogenic disturbances or competition. The boreal lynx
 population does not reach the peak abundance it once did, without which we
 would not expect to see large expansions of the southern lynx range as in
 the mid-1960s. Our results suggest that southern lynx range in Ontario
 have been driven by the magnitude of the boreal lynx population cycle,
 connectivity to the boreal forest, and snow conditions. Therefore, it is
 quite unlikely that southern lynx population in the Great Lakes will
 recover, since the warming climate and habitat changes are causing a
 northward contraction of the boreal forest and likely with it the core
 lynx populations.
description: We provided aggregated versions of data as they were used in our
 analyses. Please read through the associated publication for an in-depth
 explanation of how data were gathered, processed and
 transformed. Furbearer harvest records and
 trapline information were gathered directly from the Ontario Ministry of
 Natural Resources and Forestry and from Novak (1987 ab).
 Pelt price was gathered from Statistics Canada
 (http://www5.statcan.gc.ca; CANSIM Table 003-0013), Fur Institute of
 Canada (www.fur.ca) and from Novak (1987a and 1987b).
 We adjusted the pelt price using the Consumer Price Index (CPI)
 for the province of Ontario also available on the Statistics Canada
 website (statcan.gc.ca; CANSIM Table 326-0021).  For
 the distance to boreal forest we used maps supplied by Natural Resources
 Canada that were derived from maps from the early 1970s to the late 2000s
 (Brandt 2009). Major road information was gathered
 from the Ontario Road Network layer (LIO;
 geohub.lio.gov.on.ca).  We gathered unpublished
 snowshoe hare pellet data from the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
 and Forestry. We used pellet data from the longest running snowshoe hare
 population monitoring (since 1986) in Gogama, Ontario.
 We gathered snow data from the SNOW network for Ontario wildlife
 database (OMNRF 2020; Warren<i> et al. </i>1998).
 References Brandt,
 J.P., 2009. The extent of the North American boreal zone. Environmental
 Reviews, 17(NA), pp.101-161. Novak, M., 1987a. Furbearer harvests in
 North America, 1600-1984. Ministry of Natural Resources. Novak, M., 1987b. Wild furbearer management
 and conservation in North America. Ontario Ministry of Natural
 Resources. Ontario
 Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (OMNRF), 2020. The SNOW network
 for Ontario wildlife database: 1952-2020. Ontario Ministry of Natural
 Resources and Forestry, Wildlife Research and Monitoring Section,
 Peterborough, ON. Unpublished database. Warren, R., Bisset, A.R., Pond, B. and
 Voigt, D., 1998. The Snow Network for Ontario Wildlife. Ontario Ministry
 of Natural Resources. (Queen’s Printer for Ontario: Peterborough,
 ON.).
description: There are 3 tables: hexagon_df, spatial_df and
 temporal_df.<br> hexagon_df: Data used to estimate the lynx range
 through space and time. Hex =
 Sampling unit or Hexagon ID
 Year = Year of the beginning of the trapping
 season x = Easting in North
 America Lambert Conformal Conic of the sampling unit
 centroid y = Northing
 in North America Lambert Conformal Conic of the sampling unit
 centroid region: Region of
 the southern range of the Canada lynx. West, Central,
 East LynxP = Presence (1) of
 Canada lynx or absence of lynx (0)
 Nb_trapline = Number of traplines found within the
 sampling unit Area_trps =
 Total area of the traplines found within the sampling unit in
 km<sup>2</sup>
 Marten = Total number of American martens harvested
 within the sampling unit
 Total = Total number of furbearers harvested within
 the sampling unit AvgPelt =
 Average Canada lynx pelt price in Canadian dollars adjusted for inflation
 to 2019 spatial_df: Data used
 to perform spatial correlations. 
 Hex: Sampling unit or Hexagon
 ID x = Easting in North
 America Lambert Conformal Conic of the sampling unit
 centroid y = Northing
 in North America Lambert Conformal Conic of the sampling unit
 centroid region: Region of
 the southern range of the Canada lynx. West, Central,
 East OccNb: Number of years
 where Canada lynx are harvested within a sampling
 unit Dist_boreal: Distance
 to the boreal forest in km
 Road_dist_km: Distance to the nearest major road in
 km. Snow: Average Winter
 Severity Index BobcatP:
 Number of years where bobcats are harvested within a sampling
 unit  CoyoteP: Number of
 years where coyotes are harvested within a sampling
 unit  temporal_df: Data used
 to perform temporal correlations. 
 Year: Year of the beginning of the trapping
 season Range_area: Area of
 the Canada lynx range in
 km<sup>2</sup>
 BobcatP: Number of sampling units where bobcats were
 harvested CoyoteP: Number of
 sampling units where coyotes were harvested
 Hare_pellets: Snowshoe hare pellet metric calculated
 from the Bendell plots in Gogama, Ontario, Canada.
 Avg_WSI: Average Winter Severity
 Index Lynx_boreal: Total
 number of Canada lynx harvested in the Boreal
 forest.