Red wolf natal dispersal characteristics: comparing periods of population increase and stability

Abstract

We analyzed natal dispersal characteristics for 79 red wolves in the first long‐term dispersal analysis for this species. Variables analyzed included straight‐line dispersal distance, duration, timing, age, direction, and evidence of natal habitat preference induction of dispersers. We compared these values during a time when the population was increasing (1990–1998) to a period when the numbers had leveled off (1999–2007) and stabilized. We found no difference in average dispersal distance, duration or age between the two periods, and no gender bias in these characteristics. Yearlings/adults dispersed shorter distances (29.5 km) than pups (42.5 km) from 1999 to 2007 and decreased their dispersal distances during this period. After 1999, dispersals occurred 11 months of the year (compared with 7 months in 1990–1998), and the peak in pup dispersal timing shifted from December to January. The peak in dispersal timing was also significantly later for pups than yearlings/adults in 1999–2007. Dispersal direction was not random and there was a preference for a westward dispersal direction, attributed to the avoidance of water and a preference for agriculture. Natal habitat preference induction was also evident in dispersers during both time periods.

Evidence of natal habitat preference induction within one habitat type

“…Evidence for NHPI has been documented in free-living mammals born in strongly contrasting vegetation communities or structural types such as woodland and prairie [42], grassland and oak savannah [14], an urban, forest, shrub, and agricultural matrix [24], or in thinned versus mature forest [22], and here we test the hypothesis that NHPI may also function in single vegetation communities occupied by habitat specialists. Our results provide additional support for NHPI as a mechanism for post-dispersal habitat selection [14,22,25,42], in general, and specifically in an organism that is dependent upon particular vegetation community types such as mixed-conifer forest.…”

“…Several recent studies appear to document NHPI in wild animal populations, and suggest NHPI may be important. Young North American red squirrels (hereafter red squirrels), Eurasian red squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris), brush mice (Peromyscus boylii), and red wolves (Canis rufus) selected settlement sites of a similar habitat type to their natal area or natal home range [14,[21][22][23][24]. Siberian flying squirrels (Pteromys volans) settled in forest patches of similar size to the natal patch [23], and dispersing common loons (Gavia immer) selected lakes of similar size and pH to their natal lake for breeding [25].…”

Space Use and Habitat Selection by Resident and Transient Red Wolves (Canis rufus)

“…During this period, the Recovery Program annually monitored 83–94 radio-collared red wolves in 16–17 packs [3,23,40]. Each year, 10–15 radio-collared red wolves not associated with known packs or breeding pairs were assumed to be transient (e.g., dispersing) [41]. The red wolf is listed as critically endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) and by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).…”

Habitat Use by Adult Red Wolves,Canis rufus, in an Agricultural Landscape, North Carolina, USA

“…Red wolves do not migrate, and rarely even leave the RWREPA. A 2011 study of dispersing red wolves identified only two out of 79 dispersing red wolves in that study that left the five county management area (Karlin and Chadwick 2011). This is the only paper to date on red wolf dispersal.…”