Wolverines are highly vulnerable to climate change as one of the few large carnivores entirely dependent on persistent snow cover.
Wolverine welfare is primarily threatened by climate change, which represents an existential threat to their snow-dependent reproductive ecology. Individual wolverines trying to den in inadequate snow conditions face reproductive failure with no behavioral adaptation available — their ecological specialization is both their strength in their native habitat and their vulnerability to habitat change. Trapping continues in some jurisdictions despite population pressure from climate change, adding anthropogenic mortality pressure to an already climate-stressed population. Connectivity between mountain refuges requires both road crossing infrastructure and reduced human mortality pressure to maintain the population viability that individual welfare depends upon.