Influence of snow cover on wolf <i>Canis lupus</i> predation patterns in Bieszczady Mountains, Poland

Gula, Roman

doi:10.2981/wlb.2004.005

Cited by 37 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Furthermore, wolves elsewhere have been found to be effective at killing ungulates along rivers and within riparian systems (Kunkel and Pletscher, 2001;Gula, 2004;and Bergman et al, 2006). Thus, with the extirpation of wolves in the early 1900s, Euro-American hunting pressure on bear and cougar, and a 1905 elk-hunting moratorium, elk populations within the park's valley bottoms soon irrupted.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolves, trophic cascades, and rivers in the Olympic National Park, USA

Beschta

Ripple

2008

Ecohydrology

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Gray wolves (Canis lupus) were extirpated in the early 1900s from the Olympic Peninsula of northwestern Washington. Thus, we studied potential cascading effects of wolf removal by undertaking a retrospective study of Roosevelt elk (Cervus elaphus) populations, riparian forests, and river channel morphology. For three riparian sites within the western portion of Olympic National Park, the age structure of black cottonwood and bigleaf maple indicated a pattern of significantly decreased recruitment (growth of seedlings/sprouts into tall saplings and trees) associated with intensive elk browsing in the decades following the loss of wolves. At a riparian site outside the park, which represented a refugium from elk browsing, cottonwood recruitment has been ongoing during the 20th century, indicating that climate and flow regimes, in the absence of intensive herbivory, have not limited the establishment and growth of this deciduous woody species. Using 1994 orthophotos, we also measured channel dimensions and planform morphology of 8-km-long river reaches at each vegetation sampling site and an additional reach outside the park. Channels inside the park versus those outside the park had greater percent braiding (37 vs 2%) and larger ratios of active channel width/wetted width (3Ð0 vs 1Ð5 m/m). Results for western Olympic National Park were consistent with a truncated trophic cascade hypothesis whereby ungulate browsing following the extirpation of wolves caused significant long-term impacts to riparian plant communities which, in turn, allowed increased riverbank erosion and channel widening to occur.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolves, trophic cascades, and rivers in the Olympic National Park, USA

Beschta

Ripple

2008

Ecohydrology

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“…Selectivity of wolf predation on moose Alces alces, caribou Rangifer tarandus caribou, white-tailed deer Odocoileus virginianus, elk Cervus elaphus canadensis and Dall sheep Ovis dalli during winter has been frequently studied in North America (eg Murie 1944, Mech 1966, Mech and Frenzel 1971, Peterson 1977, Fritts and Mech 1981, Carbyn 1983, Ballard et al 1987, Huggard 1993, Mech et al 1995, Hayes et al 2000, Smith et al 2004. In contrast, only a few studies have focused on the selectivity of wolf predation within a given ungulate species in Europe (Okarma 1984, Okarma 1991, Bobek et al 1992a, Gula 2004.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selectivity of wolf predation on red deer in the Bieszczady Mountains, Poland

Śmietana

2005

Acta Theriol

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OEmietana W. 2005. Selectivity of wolf predation on red deer in the Bieszczady Mountains, Poland. Acta Theriologica 50: 277-288.A pattern of wolf Canis lupus Linnaeus, 1758 predation on red deer Cervus elaphus Linnaeus, 1758 was studied in Bieszczady Mountains in 1991-2002. In total 324 remains of red deer > 4 months old, killed by wolves throughout the year, were found. The sex, age and bone marrow fat content of wolf kills were compared with the same characteristics within the free living red deer population. The overall contribution of calves killed by wolves (24%) in October-May was higher than in the population (17%), and decreased from autumn to spring. Adult males were more vulnerable to wolf predation than adult females: stags constituted 62% and hinds 38% of adult red deer killed by wolves, whereas in the population, the percentages were 37 and 63%, respectively. Stags killed by wolves were younger (x = 4.1 years old) than hinds (x = 8.9 years old). Wolves killed more > 8 years old hinds and < 5 years old stags than available in the population. In wolf kills, the average fat content in femur marrow was higher among hinds (84.9%) than stags (69.3%) and calves (66.1%). Only 8% of hinds had < 70% femur marrow fat content, whereas 40% of calves and 38% of stags had marrow fat values below that level. Marrow fat content showed seasonal variation and was the lowest in March among all sex-age classes. The monthly share of stags in all kills, and hinds in hind-calf part of the sample was negatively correlated with their monthly average bone marrow fat content, and monthly share of calves was positively correlated with monthly average bone marrow fat content of adults. The segregation of social units (hind-calf and stag groups), except during the rutting season, and the low fat reserves of males from midwinter until spring contribute to the high overall incidence of calves and adult males and the relatively low incidence of adult females among wolf kills.

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“…In contrast, red deer was generally positively selected in central-eastern Europe (Okarma 1995;Jędrzejewski et al 2000;Andersone and Ozolins 2004;Nowak et al 2005) and in the western Alps (Gazzola et al 2005), on the contrary roe deer was selected in fewer locations of Sweden (Olsson et al 1997), Saxony (Ansorge et al 2006), Russia and Belarus (Okarma 1995). Apart from Italy, wild boar was selected as secondary prey in the Bieszczady Mountains, Poland, during winter (Smietana and Klimek 1993;Gula 2004), in two locations of central Russia and Caucasus (Okarma 1995), and as main prey only in Estonia (Valdmann et al 1998).…”

Section: Prey Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The choice of method for diet analysis is crucial when small-size prey is abundant. Many authors, in fact, emphasize that kill analysis tends to underestimate the importance of smaller prey species in predators' diet, because such individuals are usually completely consumed and, as a consequence, remains of such a kill are more rarely found (Olsson et al 1997;Jędrzejewski et al 2002;Nowak et al 2005;Gula 2004;Sand et al 2008). Moreover, searching for fresh kills is only possible during winter and in countries with frequent snowfall.…”

Section: Prey Usementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In European studies, wolves were observed to select young wild boar (i.e. <1 year) in many study areas (see Okarma 1995 for a review;Gula 2004;Jędrzejewski et al 2000) and in particular individuals between 10 and 35 kg (Meriggi et al 1996;Capitani et al 2004). Likewise, red deer calves were generally selected (Jędrzejewski et al 2000;Gazzola et al 2005;Nowak et al 2005;Smietana 2005).…”

Section: Prey Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Prey selection and dietary response by wolves in a high-density multi-species ungulate community

Mattioli¹,

Capitani

Gazzola

et al. 2011

Eur J Wildl Res

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Studies on predation by the wolf (Canis lupus) have often reported contradictory results about the role of prey density and vulnerability on wolf prey use. We investigated dietary response and prey selection by wolves in a high-density and multi-species ungulate community, analysing scats collected over a period of 11 years in the Casentinesi Forests, Italy. The second most abundant species, wild boar (Sus scrofa), was found to be the main wolf prey, and we did not observe any dietary response of wolves to variations in the density of either primary or secondary prey species. Selection patterns were uniform throughout the study period. Wolves strongly selected for wild boar piglets, while roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns and adults, red deer (Cervus elaphus) adults and fallow deer (Dama dama) adults were avoided. Wolf preference for wild boar was inversely density dependent. Within each species, juveniles were preferred to adults. Medium-sized, young individuals of both wild boar and roe deer were optimal prey, although with different selection patterns related to the different anti-predator strategies adopted by each prey species. The results of this study suggest that in productive ecosystems with high density and high renewal rates of prey, selection patterns by wolves are determined by prey vulnerability, which is connected to prey age and body size. The different patterns of wild boar versus cervids use by wolf across Europe seems to be related to their relative abundances, while the strong selection of wild boar in Italian Apennines with respect to the more frequent avoidance in central-eastern Europe is better explained by higher piglet productivity and smaller body size of adults boar in Mediterranean temperate forests.

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Influence of snow cover on wolf Canis lupus predation patterns in Bieszczady Mountains, Poland

Cited by 37 publications

References 15 publications

Wolves, trophic cascades, and rivers in the Olympic National Park, USA

Wolves, trophic cascades, and rivers in the Olympic National Park, USA

Selectivity of wolf predation on red deer in the Bieszczady Mountains, Poland

Prey selection and dietary response by wolves in a high-density multi-species ungulate community

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