ii

• Main Author: Patricia L. Swan
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Date; British Columbia; Canada; Canis lupus
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.454.1687; http://www.carnivoreconservation.org/files/thesis/swan_2005_msc.pdf

iii Gray Wolves (Canis lupus) are a focal species for rare Temperate Rainforests located on the central coast of British Columbia, Canada. Characteristics of coastal wolf habitat are unknown. Wolf presence/absence data and spatial, physical and biological attributes of the coastal landscape were compiled in GIS and analysed with logistic regression. Akaike’s Information Criterion was used to select the best model describing wolf habitat. Island area and shape positively influenced wolf presence while distance to mainland, inter-island distance, and logged area negatively predicted wolf presence. Sub-island analysis showed positive effects on wolf occurrence from deer density and range of forest age, and a negative effect from mean forest age. Models had high classification accuracy evaluated with jackknife validation and Relative Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves. Identification of factors comprising coastal wolf habitat enhance understanding of the coastal ecosystem and are useful for conservation management and planning. iv