Eastern Wolves
Dr. Brent R. Patterson Research Scientist,
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
Chair & Professor of Biology
People of The Wolf Project
Eastern wolves (Canis lycaon) are a species of special concern under the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), the federal Species at Risk Act (SARA), and the Committee on the Status of Species at Risk in Ontario (COSSARO). In recent years, research has shown that top predators, including large carnivores like wolves, are integral to a healthy ecosystem. At The Natural Resources DNA Profiling and Forensic Centre, our research involves using genetic approaches to answer questions about wolf ecology that will help shape conservation policy in North America that protects the evolutionary potential of eastern wolves and their hybrids. The main objectives of our research are 1) to develop a better understanding of the evolutionary origins of the eastern wolf, 2) assess the impacts of human influences on wolf persistence and social responses, 3) document historic and present day levels of genetic diversity, 4) untangle complicated hybridization patterns of eastern wolves with gray wolves (C. lupus) and coyotes (C. latrans). The distribution of eastern wolves is primarily in and immediately surrounding Algonquin Provincial Park, but their genes are spread throughout northern Ontario and the Great Lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan in the form of a grey wolf-eastern wolf hybrid animal that is genetically distinct from the eastern wolves found in Algonquin Park.
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Canada Research Chair (DNA Profiling, Forensics & Functional Genomics) & Associate Professor
Canada Research Chair (Terrestrial Ecology) & Associate Professor
Website updated May 11, 2010
Faculty, Research Scientists, & Post-Doctoral Fellows
Assistant Professor & Research Chair in Wildlife Genetics
