Polar Bear Research Scientist, Environment and Climate Change Canada
Dr. Evan Richardson is a polar bear research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada. He is originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in zoology from the University of Manitoba. As an undergraduate student, he conducted research on Arctic and red fox den site selection in western Hudson Bay. In 2001, he moved to Edmonton, Alberta to pursue a MSc degree at the University of Alberta with Dr. Ian Stirling, focusing on polar bear maternity den site selection in Western Hudson Bay, and later earned a doctorate there.
Evan first started working on polar bears in 2001 in Churchill, Manitoba and has been involved in polar bear research in several of Canada’s polar bear populations including the western Hudson Bay, southern Beaufort Sea, northern Beaufort Sea, and Viscount Melville. 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. He lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba.