Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park
Abstract The diet of wolves Canis lupus L. was assessed in the Wigry National Park in North-Eastern Poland, which overlaps with the Natura 2000 site “Ostoja Wigierska”. The content of a total of 149 scat samples was collected in 2017 and analysed in order to determine dietary composition. Wolves pri...
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crdegruyter:10.2478/frp-2018-0013 2024-04-07T07:51:39+00:00 Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park Mysłajek, Robert W. Nowak, Sabina Romański, Maciej Tołkacz, Katarzyna 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/frp-2018-0013 http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/frp/79/2/article-p119.xml https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/frp-2018-0013 en eng Walter de Gruyter GmbH http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 Forest Research Papers volume 79, issue 2, page 119-124 ISSN 2082-8926 journal-article 2018 crdegruyter https://doi.org/10.2478/frp-2018-0013 2024-03-08T00:41:07Z Abstract The diet of wolves Canis lupus L. was assessed in the Wigry National Park in North-Eastern Poland, which overlaps with the Natura 2000 site “Ostoja Wigierska”. The content of a total of 149 scat samples was collected in 2017 and analysed in order to determine dietary composition. Wolves primarily feed on wild ungulates, which make up 75.4% of food biomass. Despite the fact that wild boar Sus scrofa L. and red deer Cervus elaphus L. dominate in the ungulate community in the study area, the primary prey species was observed to be roe deer Capreolus capreolus L. with 39.6%, while red deer and wild boar only constituted 18.7% and 8.3% of the food biomass, respectively. Additionally, beaver Castor fiber L. was found to be an important prey (10.9%) as well and livestock accounted for 15.1% of all biomass consumed. The livestock eaten by wolves also included carcasses of domestic animals illegally disposed of in the forest. We therefore conclude that decisions on the management of the wolf’s food base within protected areas, such as national parks or Natura 2000 sites, should be preceded by intensive local studies. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus De Gruyter Forest Research Papers 79 2 119 124 |
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English |
description |
Abstract The diet of wolves Canis lupus L. was assessed in the Wigry National Park in North-Eastern Poland, which overlaps with the Natura 2000 site “Ostoja Wigierska”. The content of a total of 149 scat samples was collected in 2017 and analysed in order to determine dietary composition. Wolves primarily feed on wild ungulates, which make up 75.4% of food biomass. Despite the fact that wild boar Sus scrofa L. and red deer Cervus elaphus L. dominate in the ungulate community in the study area, the primary prey species was observed to be roe deer Capreolus capreolus L. with 39.6%, while red deer and wild boar only constituted 18.7% and 8.3% of the food biomass, respectively. Additionally, beaver Castor fiber L. was found to be an important prey (10.9%) as well and livestock accounted for 15.1% of all biomass consumed. The livestock eaten by wolves also included carcasses of domestic animals illegally disposed of in the forest. We therefore conclude that decisions on the management of the wolf’s food base within protected areas, such as national parks or Natura 2000 sites, should be preceded by intensive local studies. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Mysłajek, Robert W. Nowak, Sabina Romański, Maciej Tołkacz, Katarzyna |
spellingShingle |
Mysłajek, Robert W. Nowak, Sabina Romański, Maciej Tołkacz, Katarzyna Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park |
author_facet |
Mysłajek, Robert W. Nowak, Sabina Romański, Maciej Tołkacz, Katarzyna |
author_sort |
Mysłajek, Robert W. |
title |
Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park |
title_short |
Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park |
title_full |
Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park |
title_fullStr |
Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park |
title_full_unstemmed |
Composition of the wolf’s Canis lupus L. diet in the Wigry National Park |
title_sort |
composition of the wolf’s canis lupus l. diet in the wigry national park |
publisher |
Walter de Gruyter GmbH |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/frp-2018-0013 http://content.sciendo.com/view/journals/frp/79/2/article-p119.xml https://www.sciendo.com/pdf/10.2478/frp-2018-0013 |
genre |
Canis lupus |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus |
op_source |
Forest Research Papers volume 79, issue 2, page 119-124 ISSN 2082-8926 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.2478/frp-2018-0013 |
container_title |
Forest Research Papers |
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79 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
119 |
op_container_end_page |
124 |
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1795666672856596480 |