Trans-Boundary Edge Effects in the Western Carpathians: The Influence of Hunting on Large Carnivore Occupancy

Abstract

The conservation and management of wolves Canis lupus in the periphery of their distribution is challenging. Edges of wolf distribution are characterized by very few and intermittent occurrences of individuals, which are modulated by multiple factors affecting the overall population such as human-caused mortality, management targets and food availability. The knowledge of population dynamics in the edges becomes crucial when hunting takes place nearby the edges, which may preclude population expansion. Here, using as example the occurrence of wolves in the Beskydy Mountains (Czech-Slovak border), which are the edge distribution of the wolf and Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx populations in the West Carpathians, we explored how food availability and hunting in the Slovakian core area affected the dynamics of wolves in the edges of this population. During 2003–2012, we monitored large carnivore occurrence by snow-tracking surveys and tested potential differences in the occurrence of these species in Beskydy Mountains and potential mechanisms behind detected patterns. Despite the proximity to the core area, with several wolf reproductions being confirmed at least in recent years, the wolf was a very rare species in Beskydy and was recorded 14 times less often than the lynx. The expected abundance of wolves in the Beskydy Mountains was inversely related to prey availability in the Slovakian core area. Wolf hunting the year before influenced the expected abundance of wolves in Beskydy area. We discuss how different life histories and legal status of both species probably account for most of the observed difference of occurrence at range margins.

Wolves at the crossroad: Fission–fusion range biogeography in the Western Carpathians and Central Europe

“…However, the Carpathian population lacks strong expansion trend, illustrated for example by the lack of reproduction in the Beskydy mountains (Kutal, Váňa, Suchomel, Chapron, & López‐Bao, ), in contrast to substantial expansion of the Central European population, illustrated by its establishment in western Poland (Nowak & Mysłajek, ; Nowak et al., ), northern Germany and northern region of Czech Republic, where a permanent pack (IDs 2–8) was ascertained for the first time since 1766 (Flousek et al., ).…”

“…In addition to environmental dispersal resistance, anthropogenic impact could play a role in wolf population recovery. Besides differences in management regimes in particular regions (Kutal et al., ; Nowak & Mysłajek, ), the role of landscape fragmentation in population biology and conservation is widely debated (Mortelliti, Amori, Capizzi, Rondinini, & Boitani, ). As expected (Munroe, Croissant, & York, ), our study depicts steep gradients in landscape fragmentation corresponding to patterns of socioeconomic drivers within Central Europe, resulting in increasing dispersal resistance and population disintegration towards highly fragmented regions in the west (Figure ).…”

Hunting practices and environmental influence: A brief overview with an ethnozoological approach

“…Another study performed in Beskydy, between Slovakia and the Czech Republic, showed that hunting acts as a reducer in the availability of food for carnivorous mammals, with particular emphasis on canines and felines (Kutal et al 2016). This study analyzed the population dynamics of great carnivores between 2003 and 2012 and concluded that variations in hunting practices and their influence on the disponibility of preys in different scenarios resulted in a considerable behavioral disparity among the predator populations studied.…”

Impact of Future Land Use Change on Large Carnivores Connectivity in the Polish Carpathians

“…They were delineated using a combined approach linking habitat suitability analyses and least-cost modelling [35]. As the study area can be characterised as the region of either permanent or sporadic occurrence of wolf and lynx [42,43], we combined the core habitat areas and wildlife corridors into one class and refer to them as the corridors throughout the paper.…”