Evan Richardson Western Hudson Baycr.jpg

Evan Richardson is a Polar Bear Research Biologist with the Wildlife Research Division in the Science and Technology Branch of Environment Canada. Evan is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba where he completed his undergraduate degree in Zoology at the University of Manitoba. He began working in western Hudson Bay as an undergraduate student doing research on arctic and red fox den site selection. Evan began working on polar bears in 2001 for his MSc. and continued studying polar bears for his Ph.D. at the University of Alberta. He has been involved in polar bear research in several of Canada’s polar bear subpopulations including the western Hudson Bay, southern Beaufort Sea, northern Beaufort and Viscount Melville polar bear populations.

Evan’s research interests are broad and include understanding the evolutionary ecology of polar bears, their mating systems, population genetics, habitat selection and the influence of stressors (e.g. contaminants, climate, industrial development) on polar bear populations. Evan also works with aboriginal organizations to try help integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) into polar bear management. He has been a member of the IUCN/SSC Polar Bear Specialist Group since 2013.