Determining the Abundance of Canada Lynx
Once the presence of a species is documented, the next question that naturally arises is how abundant is it? It is relatively easy to determine abundance for common species such as white-tailed deer. However, for a species such as Canada lynx, which is rare by definition (a Threatened Species under the ESA), making a quantitative estimate of abundance is a more difficult problem. Canada lynx are not hunted or trapped in Minnesota so there is no way to use harvest estimates to estimate abundance, and it is not possible to do an aerial census on a small, rare carnivore.
We estimate the number of Canada lynx in Minnesota in the final report of Phase 1 Final Report and in the 2008 Annual Report. This the first habitat-based estimate of abundance for Canada lynx in Minnesota. Both reports are also available on the Publications page.