Data from: Prey selection of Scandinavian wolves: single large or several small? ...

• Main Authors: Sand, Håkan, Eklund, Ann, Zimmermann, Barbara, Wikenros, Camilla, Wabakken, Petter
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2017
• Subjects: roe deer; prey selection; Alces alces; Moose; present; Canis lupus; Holocene; Wolves; Capreolus capreolus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.n863q; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.n863q

Research on large predator-prey interactions are often limited to the predators’ primary prey, with the potential for prey switching in systems with multiple ungulate species rarely investigated. We evaluated wolf (Canis lupus) prey selection at two different spatial scales, i.e., inter- and intra-territorial, using data from 409 ungulate wolf-kills in an expanding wolf population in Scandinavia. This expansion includes a change from a one-prey into a two-prey system with variable densities of one large-sized ungulate; moose (Alces alces) and one small-sized ungulate; roe deer (Capreolus capreolus). Among wolf territories, the proportion of roe deer in wolf kills was related to both pack size and roe deer density, but not to moose density. Pairs of wolves killed a higher proportion of roe deer than did packs, and wolves switched to kill more roe deer as their density increased above a 1:1 ratio in relation to the availability of the two species. At the intra-territorial level, wolves again responded to ... : Data_preyselection_PlosOneTerritory: wolf territory preytype: moose=1, roe deer=2 moosedensity: density of moose per 10 km2 roedensity: roe deer density per 10 km2 daynumber: the number of days after the 1th of January timesincekill: the number of days since their last kill of moose or roe deer nutritionalstatus: the nutritional status of wolves at the time of kill snowdepthm: snow dept in meters ...