Demographics of Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) Packs Recolonizing Variable Habitats in Central Wisconsin

IF 0.5 4区环境科学与生态学 Q4 BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Northeastern Naturalist Pub Date : 2023-03-28 DOI:10.1656/045.030.0108

T. Simpson, R. Thiel, Derrick T. Sailer, D. Reineke, M. Thomsen

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引用次数: 2

Abstract

Abstract – Some Canis lupus (Gray Wolf, hereafter Wolf) live in disjunct populations including Wisconsin's Central Forest Region (CFR), recolonizing there in the early 1990s. We examined how habitat factors and period of initial recolonization facilitated successful re-establishment of Wolves to this region. We divided this event into 3 periods: early (1994–1999), middle (2000–2005), and late (2006–2012). We defined habitat classes of individual pack territories as optimal, mixed, and marginal, based on: (1) percent public land, (2) percent agricultural land, and (3) road density. We analyzed the influence of time and habitat classes on pack territory size, winter pack size, pup presence, Wolf–human conflicts, human-caused Wolf mortalities, territory persistence, and reproductive performance. Pack demographics were similar across time, except pup presence was slightly lower during the middle period. Wolf–human conflicts increased over time and were correlated with population growth. Packs in marginal habitat were smaller in winter, exhibited lower reproductive performance, had more conflicts with humans, and experienced human-caused mortalities at rates 4 and 7 times higher than mixed and optimal habitats, respectively. We demonstrate that Gray Wolves tolerate some level of human-altered landscapes and identify demographic parameters that impact the Wolves' ability to survive in human-dominated landscapes.

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威斯康辛州中部灰狼（犬类狼疮）群体重新定居可变栖息地的人口统计

摘要-一些犬类狼疮（灰狼，以下简称狼）生活在包括威斯康星州中央林区（CFR）在内的间断种群中，于20世纪90年代初在那里重新定居。我们研究了栖息地因素和最初的重新殖民时期如何促进狼队在该地区的成功重建。我们将这一事件分为三个时期：早期（1994–1999）、中期（2000–2005）和晚期（2006–2012）。我们根据（1）%的公共土地、（2）%的农业用地和（3）道路密度，将单个群落区域的栖息地类别定义为最佳、混合和边缘。我们分析了时间和栖息地类别对狼群领地大小、冬季狼群大小、幼崽存在、狼与人之间的冲突、人为造成的狼死亡、领地持续性和繁殖性能的影响。种群的人口统计数据在不同时期相似，只是在中期幼犬的数量略低。狼与人之间的冲突随着时间的推移而增加，并与人口增长相关。边缘栖息地的种群在冬季较小，繁殖能力较低，与人类的冲突较多，人类造成的死亡率分别是混合栖息地和最佳栖息地的4倍和7倍。我们证明灰狼能够容忍一定程度的人类改变的景观，并确定了影响灰狼在人类主导的景观中生存能力的人口统计参数。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Northeastern Naturalist 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

1.10

自引率

0.00%

发文量

审稿时长

18-36 weeks

期刊介绍： The Northeastern Naturalist covers all aspects of the natural history sciences of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and the environments of the northeastern portion of North America, roughly bounded from Virginia to Missouri, north to Minnesota and Nunavut, east to Newfoundland, and south back to Virginia. Manuscripts based on field studies outside of this region that provide information on species within this region may be considered at the Editor’s discretion. The journal welcomes manuscripts based on observations and research focused on the biology of terrestrial, freshwater, and marine organisms and communities as it relates to their life histories and their function within, use of, and adaptation to the environment and the habitats in which they are found, as well as on the ecology and conservation of species and habitats. Such studies may encompass measurements, surveys, and/or experiments in the field, under lab conditions, or utilizing museum and herbarium specimens. Subject areas include, but are not limited to, anatomy, behavior, biogeography, biology, conservation, evolution, ecology, genetics, parasitology, physiology, population biology, and taxonomy. Strict lab, modeling, and simulation studies on natural history aspects of the region, without any field component, will be considered for publication as long as the research has direct and clear significance to field naturalists and the manuscript discusses these implications.