Research overview: surveying lynx-bobcat range dynamics with occupancy models

Detecting whether bobcats are advancing into lynx range requires repeated, detection-corrected surveys across the contact zone. This overview surveys the field and analytical methods, snow-track surveys, camera traps, hair snares with genetic species confirmation, and multi-season occupancy and co-occurrence models, used to monitor the shifting boundary between the two cats. It explains how detection probability, survey timing relative to snow conditions, and species misidentification complicate inference, and how co-occurrence modeling tests whether one species suppresses the other. The synthesis helps readers understand the evidentiary basis behind claims that lynx are being replaced, and why long-term standardized monitoring is essential to confirm climate-driven range shifts.