Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System
Carnivores across much of the world are declining, leading to loss of biodiversity as well as the ecosystem services carnivores provide. In 2020, the Alexander Archipelago (AA) wolf was petitioned for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the third time in 30 years. Concerns inc...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371/full |
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crfrontiers:10.3389/fevo.2022.809371 2024-09-15T17:49:35+00:00 Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System Gilbert, Sophie L. Haynes, Trevor Lindberg, Mark S. Albert, David M. Kissling, Michelle Lynch, Laurel Person, Dave U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371/full unknown Frontiers Media SA https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 10 ISSN 2296-701X journal-article 2022 crfrontiers https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371 2024-08-13T04:05:04Z Carnivores across much of the world are declining, leading to loss of biodiversity as well as the ecosystem services carnivores provide. In 2020, the Alexander Archipelago (AA) wolf was petitioned for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the third time in 30 years. Concerns included habitat alteration from industrial timber harvest and subsequent declines in prey (deer), human-caused mortality, climate change, and genetic inbreeding. However, the underlying biogeography and ecology of these wolves continues to suggest resiliency across the subspecies’ range, even though local populations may go extinct. If local wolf populations go extinct, it will result in loss of their ecosystem services (e.g., interactions of wolves with their prey, which prevents over-browsing and protects carbon sequestration in soils and trees), which will likely have major consequences for the local social-ecological system. Here, we updated a model we constructed for the last ESA listing process (2015) to examine the dynamics of wolf and deer populations on Prince of Wales Island (the primary geographic focus of all three petitions) in response to future environmental and management scenarios developed with stakeholders. Further, we considered how changes in deer abundance impact predation services (prevention of over-browsing by deer). We found that wolf populations generally persisted over 30 years, but dropped below an effective population size of 50 wolves in 10–98% of years simulated. Low wolf abundance resulted in higher deer abundance, which increased hunting opportunity, but also browsing damages (e.g., 19% of areas would be over-browsed if wolf harvest caps are removed, and >30% of areas would be over-browsed if wolves go extinct). Human harvest of wildlife was a key regulator of abundance and ecosystem services within the coastal rainforest social-ecological system; wolf abundance was most affected by wolf harvest regulations; and deer harvest restrictions increased wolf and deer abundances, but ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Archipelago Prince of Wales Island Alaska Frontiers (Publisher) Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10 |
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Frontiers (Publisher) |
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description |
Carnivores across much of the world are declining, leading to loss of biodiversity as well as the ecosystem services carnivores provide. In 2020, the Alexander Archipelago (AA) wolf was petitioned for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the third time in 30 years. Concerns included habitat alteration from industrial timber harvest and subsequent declines in prey (deer), human-caused mortality, climate change, and genetic inbreeding. However, the underlying biogeography and ecology of these wolves continues to suggest resiliency across the subspecies’ range, even though local populations may go extinct. If local wolf populations go extinct, it will result in loss of their ecosystem services (e.g., interactions of wolves with their prey, which prevents over-browsing and protects carbon sequestration in soils and trees), which will likely have major consequences for the local social-ecological system. Here, we updated a model we constructed for the last ESA listing process (2015) to examine the dynamics of wolf and deer populations on Prince of Wales Island (the primary geographic focus of all three petitions) in response to future environmental and management scenarios developed with stakeholders. Further, we considered how changes in deer abundance impact predation services (prevention of over-browsing by deer). We found that wolf populations generally persisted over 30 years, but dropped below an effective population size of 50 wolves in 10–98% of years simulated. Low wolf abundance resulted in higher deer abundance, which increased hunting opportunity, but also browsing damages (e.g., 19% of areas would be over-browsed if wolf harvest caps are removed, and >30% of areas would be over-browsed if wolves go extinct). Human harvest of wildlife was a key regulator of abundance and ecosystem services within the coastal rainforest social-ecological system; wolf abundance was most affected by wolf harvest regulations; and deer harvest restrictions increased wolf and deer abundances, but ... |
author2 |
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gilbert, Sophie L. Haynes, Trevor Lindberg, Mark S. Albert, David M. Kissling, Michelle Lynch, Laurel Person, Dave |
spellingShingle |
Gilbert, Sophie L. Haynes, Trevor Lindberg, Mark S. Albert, David M. Kissling, Michelle Lynch, Laurel Person, Dave Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System |
author_facet |
Gilbert, Sophie L. Haynes, Trevor Lindberg, Mark S. Albert, David M. Kissling, Michelle Lynch, Laurel Person, Dave |
author_sort |
Gilbert, Sophie L. |
title |
Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System |
title_short |
Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System |
title_full |
Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System |
title_fullStr |
Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System |
title_full_unstemmed |
Potential Futures for Coastal Wolves and Their Ecosystem Services in Alaska, With Implications for Management of a Social-Ecological System |
title_sort |
potential futures for coastal wolves and their ecosystem services in alaska, with implications for management of a social-ecological system |
publisher |
Frontiers Media SA |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371/full |
genre |
Archipelago Prince of Wales Island Alaska |
genre_facet |
Archipelago Prince of Wales Island Alaska |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution volume 10 ISSN 2296-701X |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.809371 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
10 |
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1810291299551543296 |