Defense of an expanded historical range for the Mexican wolf: A comment on Heffelfinger et al.

A recent review titled “Clarifying Historical Range to Aid Recovery of the Mexican Wolf” by Heffelfinger et al. (2017) reviews historical range delineation but misinterprets published studies and encourages the support of antiquated methods to determine appropriate range for this highly endangered subspecies. We respond to Heffelfinger et al. (2017) and argue against a simple typological model, which we maintain is not appropriate for informing conservation or reintroduction decisions, and argue for the use of genome-wide data and species distribution models when determining historical range for this vagile wolf population.Peer Reviewe