Population Limitation and the Wolves of Isle Royale

Peterson, Rolf O.; Thomas, Nancy J.; Thurber, Joanne M.; Vucetich, John A.; Waite, Thomas A.

doi:10.2307/1383091

Cited by 172 publications

(173 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…However, the power of a t-test at a significance level of 0.05 is very low for each of the vital rates that we observed. Specifically, for a hypothesized difference of 0.05 (an ecologically important difference for wolf populations [13]), the power is 0.16 for recruitment, 0.10 for survival and 0.09 for annual population growth rate. These low values of power indicate that concluding the immigrant had no effect on vital rates would be an unreliable inference.…”

Section: (D) Structure Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

“…An effect of inbreeding has never been detected in the population's basic vital rates. That is, the population's growth rate, recruitment rate and survival rate appear comparable with those of outbred wolf populations [13]. However, because the ecological conditions for ISRO wolves are complex and dynamic, detecting an effect would be difficult.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This migration event was discovered in 2009 from detailed molecular genetic analysis of samples (mainly scat) from specific individuals and the subsequent construction of a pedigree. We monitored this population for 40 years (10 generations) prior to the immigration event and 10 years (2.5 generations) after the event [13,15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomic sweep and potential genetic rescue during limiting environmental conditions in an isolated wolf population

et al. 2011

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Genetic rescue, in which the introduction of one or more unrelated individuals into an inbred population results in the reduction of detrimental genetic effects and an increase in one or more vital rates, is a potentially important management tool for mitigating adverse effects of inbreeding. We used molecular techniques to document the consequences of a male wolf ( Canis lupus ) that immigrated, on its own, across Lake Superior ice to the small, inbred wolf population in Isle Royale National Park. The immigrant's fitness so exceeded that of native wolves that within 2.5 generations, he was related to every individual in the population and his ancestry constituted 56 per cent of the population, resulting in a selective sweep of the total genome. In other words, all the male ancestry (50% of the total ancestry) descended from this immigrant, plus 6 per cent owing to the success of some of his inbred offspring. The immigration event occurred in an environment where space was limiting (i.e. packs occupied all available territories) and during a time when environmental conditions had deteriorated (i.e. wolves' prey declined). These conditions probably explain why the immigration event did not obviously improve the population's demography (e.g. increased population numbers or growth rate). Our results show that the beneficial effects of gene flow may be substantial and quickly manifest, short-lived under some circumstances, and how the demographic benefits of genetic rescue might be masked by environmental conditions.

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Section: (D) Structure Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genomic sweep and potential genetic rescue during limiting environmental conditions in an isolated wolf population

et al. 2011

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“…Site fidelity among individuals has been documented in a wide variety of species, including birds (Greenwood and Harvey 1982; Lindberg and Sedinger 1998), mammals (Twiss et al 1994;Law 1996), reptiles (Webb and Shine 1997), amphibians (Waldman et al 1992), fish (Northcote 1997; Pellett et al 1998), insects (Alcock 1996;Switzer 1997), and molluscs (Iwasaki 1995). The term site fidelity has been applied to various behaviors associated with repeti-ample, repetitive return to breeding (~a v a n a~h -a n d Murray 1996), nesting (Pledger and Bullen 1998), or feeding (Irons 1998;Weinrich 1998) grounds or faithfulness to a territory (Peterson et al 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Peterson and Page (1988) and Peterson et al (1998) reported that wolf (Canis lupus) packs on Isle Royale occupied territories for several years and that new packs occupied similar territories of previous packs. In -these cases, the researchers hypothesized that a single noncollared wolf from the previous pack may have founded the new pack.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term spatial stability of coyote (Canis latrans) home ranges in southeastern Colorado

Kitchen¹,

Gese²,

Schauster³

2000

Can. J. Zool.

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Long-term stability of territorial boundaries has not been well documented in canids. To evaluate the prevalence of long-term spatial stability of coyote (Canis latrans) home ranges, we compared the overlap of territorial boundaries and the spatial distribution of telemetry locations of packs in southeastern Colorado. From August 1983 to July 1988 (period l), 16 coyotes from six packs were radio-tracked. From April 1996 to August 1997 (period 2), 12 coyotes from six packs were captured and tracked in the same area. Mean percentage of overlap of pack ranges was 89.8 * 8.3% (+SD) for period 1 ranges over period 2 ranges and 55.8 * 14.4% for period 2 ranges over period 1 ranges. Mean percentage of overlap of the 30% core area of the home ranges was 65.2 * 13.9% for those of period 1 over those of period 2 and 66.3 * 28.7% for those of period 2 over those of period 1. Despite substantial overlap of home-range and core-use areas, there were significant differences in the distribution of locations between periods in five of six home ranges. This suggests that, although packs are faithful to one site (i.e., boundaries remain similar over a period of years), their use of the site (i.e., distribution of locations within the range) may change temporally.RCsumC : La stabilitC B long terme des limites territoriales chez les canidCs est encore ma1 connue. Dans le but d7Cvaluer la stabilitC spatiale B long terme des domaines chez le Coyote (Canis latrans), nous avons comparC le chevauchement des limites territoriales et la rkpartition spatiale des repCrages ttltmCtriques chez des meutes du sud-est du Colorado. D'aoQt 1983 B juillet 1998 (pCriode l), 16 coyotes appartenant B six meutes on Ct C repCrCs par radio. D'avril 1996 B aoQt 1997 (pkriode 2), 12 coyotes appartenant B six meutes ont Ct C capturks et suivis dans la meme zone. Le chevauchement moyen des meutes exprim6 en pourcentage a Ct C de 89,8 * 8,3 % (Ccart type) dans le cas des domaines enregistrks durant la pCriode 1 par rapport B ceux enregistrCs durant la ptriode 2 et de 55,8 * 14,4 % dans le cas des domaines enregistres durant la pCriode 2 par rapport B ceux de la pCriode 1. Le chevauchement moyen de la portion centrale (30 %) des domaines a Ct C de 65,2 rt 13,9 % (pCriode 1 sur pCriode 2) et de 66,3 * 28,7 % (pCriode 2 sur PCriode 1). En dCpit du chevauchement important des domaines et des zones-centrales, il y avait des diffkrences significatives de la rCpartition des sites de repCrage entre les pCriodes dans cinq des six domaines. Ces rCsultats indiquent que malgrC la fidClitC des meutes B un endroit (i.e., similitude des limites durant plusieurs annCes), l'utilisation de l'endroit (i.e., rCpartition des sites de repCrage dans le domaine) peut changer temporairement.[Traduit par la RCdaction]

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Modelling moose–forest interactions under different predation scenarios at Isle Royale National Park, USA

Jager

Rohweder

Miranda

et al. 2017

Ecological Applications

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Loss of top predators may contribute to high ungulate population densities and chronic over-browsing of forest ecosystems. However, spatial and temporal variability in the strength of interactions between predators and ungulates occurs over scales that are much shorter than the scales over which forest communities change, making it difficult to characterize trophic cascades in forest ecosystems. We applied the LANDIS-II forest succession model and a recently developed ungulate browsing extension to model how the moose population could interact with the forest ecosystem of Isle Royale National Park, USA, under three different wolf predation scenarios. We contrasted a 100-yr future without wolves (no predation) with two predation scenarios (weak, long-term average predation rates and strong, higher than average rates). Increasing predation rates led to lower peak moose population densities, lower biomass removal rates, and higher estimates of forage availability and landscape carrying capacity, especially during the first 40 yr of simulations. Thereafter, moose population density was similar for all predation scenarios, but available forage biomass and the carrying capacity of the landscape continued to diverge among predation scenarios. Changes in total aboveground live biomass and species composition were most pronounced in the no predation and weak predation scenarios. Consistent with smaller-scale studies, high browsing rates led to reductions in the biomass of heavily browsed Populus tremuloides, Betula papyrifera, and Abies balsamea, and increases in the biomass of unbrowsed Picea glauca and Picea mariana, especially after the simulation year 2050, when existing boreal hardwood stands at Isle Royale are projected to senesce. As a consequence, lower predation rates corresponded with a landscape that progressively shifted toward dominance by Picea glauca and Picea mariana, and lacking available forage biomass. Consistencies with previously documented small-scale successional shifts, and population estimates and trends that approximate those from this and other boreal forests that support moose provide some confidence that these dynamics represent a trophic cascade and therefore provide an important baseline against which to evaluate long-term and large-scale effects of alternative predator management strategies on ungulate populations and forest succession.

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Population Limitation and the Wolves of Isle Royale

Cited by 172 publications

References 39 publications

Genomic sweep and potential genetic rescue during limiting environmental conditions in an isolated wolf population

Genomic sweep and potential genetic rescue during limiting environmental conditions in an isolated wolf population

Long-term spatial stability of coyote (Canis latrans) home ranges in southeastern Colorado

Modelling moose–forest interactions under different predation scenarios at Isle Royale National Park, USA

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