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An analysis of the historical records for the native mammalian fauna of Prince Edward Island. Canadian Field-Naturalist 121(4): 384-396.A search was carried out for historical records, both published and unpublished, that make reference to the native mammalian fauna of Prince Edward Island. Based on documents dating from 1721 to 1890, a comprehensive list of the records for the native mammals of the island has been compiled. Among the new information found is evidence for the presence of the Grey Wolf (as well as the Woodland Caribou) at the time of the first French settlement in 1720, and for the absence of the Beaver and Moose. Historical information has been assembled on the abundance and food-chain relationships of each of the mammalian species, as well as on their interactions with the European population, including the attitudes of the new settlers towards each species. The records indicate that seven of the mammals were extirpated: the Grey Wolf, American Black Bear, American Marten, River Otter, Canada Lynx, Atlantic Walrus and Woodland Caribou. All of these extirpations were due to the activities of the European population, with the attitudes of the settlers contributing to four of them: an indifference to the survival of the otter and Marten, and a direct hostility to the bear and lynx (due to their predation on livestock), leading to the payment of bounties.

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Our aim was to produce maps showing the distribution on Prince Edward Island of five forest-types previously identified from a TWINSPAN analysis of ground flora data collected at 1200 sampling points in a field survey. For this purpose we had available two databases: one on the composition of the tree canopy of 82,957 forest stands, as determined by photointerpretation of a 1990 aerial photographic survey of the island; the other on the drainage properties of the same stands from a published soil survey. The tree canopy and drainage criteria for sorting these stands into five stand-types were chosen in the light of the equivalent properties of the TWINSPAN forest-types as evident from the field survey. These criteria were perfected in four trial computer-sortings, followed by the computer-printing of maps showing the distribution of the standtypes. These maps, which were then evaluated by comparing them with the properties of the TWINSPAN forest-types, are the first fine-scale maps of the main forest-types of the island. They reveal that, of the three “primary” forest-types, the upland hardwood forest occurs especially in the central and south-eastern hill-lands, as well as in scattered parcels elsewhere, whereas the Black Spruce forest and the wet species-rich woodland occur primarily in areas of lower elevation in the east and west of the island. The two forest-types resulting from human disturbance, the White Spruce woods and the “disturbed forest”, have a more scattered distribution, with the White Spruce woods being found especially in the central and eastern parts of the island and the disturbed forest in the west and east of the island. A secondary aim was to map the conjectured distribution before European settlement of the three primary forest-types: two maps have been produced, one showing the distribution of upland hardwood forest, the other of the wet forest-types.