The role of the wolf in shaping a multi‐species ungulate community in the Italian western Alps

Gazzola, Andrea; Avanzinelli, Elisa; Bertelli, I.; Tolosano, A.; Bertotto, Paola; Musso, Romina González; Apollonio, Marco

doi:10.1080/11250000701447074

Cited by 31 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Generally, considering the whole study period, the wolf diet in this area of the Northern Apennines is typical for a predator of large herbivores, especially wild ones. This situation has been described in other studies carried out in Europe and North America, particularly in Northern and Western Europe and, recently, in the Alps (OKARMA 1995;PETERSON & CIUCCI 2003;JĘDRZEJEWSKA & JĘDRZEJEWSKI 2005;GAZZOLA et al 2005GAZZOLA et al , 2007MERIGGI et al 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…In recent studies in the western Alps, roe deer, red deer and chamois were the main prey species, showing a significant increase from the 1970s (GAZZOLA et al 2005(GAZZOLA et al , 2007MERIGGI et al 2011). This difference is probably due to the greater abundance of these preys than in the Apennines and to the different structure of the wild ungulate community, which lead the wolf to favour cervids and bovids (JĘDRZEJEWSKI et al 1992;OKARMA 1995;CAPITANI et al 2004).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In our study area, wolf presence and abundance increased in the last 20 years despite illegal killing, but wild ungulate populations increased sharply; in particular, during the study period (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012), wild boar shot increased by three times, roe deer density by 2.5 and red deer population by 2.4 times. Finally, the mortality of wild boar and roe deer caused by the wolf is a very small part of their annual mortality (MATTIOLI et al 1995;JĘDREZEJEWSKA & JĘDREZEJEWSKI 2005;GAZZOLA et al 2007;MELIS et al 2009). …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Short-term responses of wolf feeding habits to changes of wild and domestic ungulate abundance in Northern Italy

Meriggi

Dagradi

Dondina

et al. 2014

Ethology Ecology & Evolution

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Long-term changes of wolf feeding habits have been recorded in several parts of its European range and were related to the increase of wild ungulate populations. An increased use of wild prey often is linked to a decrease of predation on livestock, and consequently it can reduce wolf-human conflict and make for easier predator conservation. We analysed wolf diet from scats collected from 2007 to 2012 in a 927.3-km 2 area of the Northern Apennines (Northern Italy) to compare the present diet to that recorded in the late 1980s when the area was colonised by wolves, and to examine short-term changes of wolf feeding habits together with annual and seasonal variations of wild and domestic ungulate selection, possibly related to the increase of wild ungulate abundance. We calculated the availability proportions of wild ungulate species from the presence signs recorded on itineraries and those of livestock species from the data on farms of veterinary services. We identified 17 kinds of prey, pooled into six categories, of which wild ungulates (70%) and livestock (20%) were the most important. During the study period, we observed a reduction in the diet breadth of wolves, to a greater use of wild ungulates, depending on the increase in the availability of wild prey species. Significant seasonal variations were observed in the trophic habits of the wolf, but generally there was a wide use of wild ungulates, especially wild boars. Livestock was mainly used in summer, which corresponds to the period of greatest presence of domestic ungulates on the pastures. Considering the study period, a fast response of wolf feeding habits to the increase of wild ungulate species resulted, together with changes in selection patterns. The change in diet towards a greater use of wild ungulates is an important step in the recovery and conservation of the wolf.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Short-term responses of wolf feeding habits to changes of wild and domestic ungulate abundance in Northern Italy

Meriggi

Dagradi

Dondina

et al. 2014

Ethology Ecology & Evolution

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“…After the removal of all predators in an area of 4,500 km 2 , the Roe Deer population increased by 50% (Lavov, 1974(Lavov, , 1982cited in Danilkin 1996). Heavy impacts of predation on Roe Deer by wolves have also been documented in studies from Poland and Italy (Okarma et al, 1997;Jedrzejewski et al, 2002;Gazzola et al, 2007). Furthermore, Jedrzejewska and Jedrzejewski (1998) have shown in eastern Poland that predators are capable of limiting Roe Deer to numbers markedly below the habitat-carrying capacity, especially when lynx and wolf occur in the same area simultaneously and the effects of the predators are cumulative.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Survival and causes of death of European Roe Deer before and after Eurasian Lynx reintroduction in the Bavarian Forest National Park

Heurich

Möst²,

Schauberger³

et al. 2012

Eur J Wildl Res

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The return of the Eurasian Lynx to Central Europe has led to a number of conflicts. A primary subject of discussion involves its predation on other wildlife species. Here, we investigated the influence of lynx on its main prey, Roe Deer, in the Bavarian Forest National Park in south-eastern Germany. We compared the survival rates of deer before and after reintroduction of lynx. The analysis is based on data from 1984 to 1988 and 2005 to 2008 of 88 and 99 radio-collared Roe Deer, respectively. During the first period, 35 deer deaths were documented; during the second period, 41 deaths were documented. The causes of death in the second period were lynx 44%, road kill 15%, hunting 12%, and other causes 29%. We used the Cox model to determine the influence of covariables on the hazard rate, which made it possible to consider interactions between the variables. The resulting model includes the four main effects sex, age, presence of lynx, and severity of first winter, and the three interactions-presence of lynx:sex, age:severity of first winter, and sex:severity of first winter, which had a statistically significant influence on Roe Deer survival.

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“…A number of studies in Italy, where red fox and wolf are the only sympatric wild canids, has focused on the ecology of each species separately (Prigioni and Tacchi 1991;Capitani et al 2004;Gazzola et al 2007;Marucco et al 2008;Mattioli et al 1995Mattioli et al , 2011. Just one comparative study addressesed their diets and their trophic niche overlap in a Mediterranean region where the food chain was deeply altered (Patalano and Lovari 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Trophic niche overlap and wild ungulate consumption by red fox and wolf in a mountain area in Italy

et al. 2012

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a b s t r a c tRed fox (Vulpes vulpes) and wolf (Canis lupus) are two widespread opportunistic predators living in simpatry in many areas. Nonetheless, scarce information are available on their trophic interactions. We investigated food habits of these two carnivores in a mountain area in Italy and assessed the extent of their trophic niche overlap, focusing on the consumption of wild ungulates. Thereby we analyzed the content of 669 red fox scats and 253 wolf scats collected between May 2008 and April 2009. Red foxes resulted to have a more than three times higher niche breadth than wolves. Vegetables, small mammals, wild ungulates, and invertebrates were major items (altogether 92% of volume) of the red fox annual diet. On the contrary wolf annual diet relied on wild ungulates (94% of volume) with wild boar (Sus scrofa) being the main food item. The degree of trophic niche overlap between the two species was found to be low (Pianka's O = 0.356). Diet variation between the warm and the cold seasons was limited in both species, and higher in red fox than in wolf. The two canids appeared to use wild ungulates unevenly being the former more selective for younger preys, smaller in size (newborn piglets and roe deer Capreolus capreolus fawns), whereas the latter exhibited a preference for medium-sized and large ungulates (10-35 kg wild boar and adult roe deer). Even if wild ungulates represent the main shared food category, the different use of age/weight classes by the two predators, together with their possible consumption as carrions by red fox, suggests a very limited trophic competition between wolf and red fox.This study represents a contribution to the knowledge of trophic interaction in predator-prey systems where sympatric carnivores are present.

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The role of the wolf in shaping a multi‐species ungulate community in the Italian western Alps

Cited by 31 publications

References 26 publications

Short-term responses of wolf feeding habits to changes of wild and domestic ungulate abundance in Northern Italy

Short-term responses of wolf feeding habits to changes of wild and domestic ungulate abundance in Northern Italy

Survival and causes of death of European Roe Deer before and after Eurasian Lynx reintroduction in the Bavarian Forest National Park

Trophic niche overlap and wild ungulate consumption by red fox and wolf in a mountain area in Italy

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