Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus
After the emergence of African swine fever (ASF), the wild boar population numbers fell drastically in Eastern Europe. This situation made it possible to verify the changes in the wolves’ diet that occurred. The material collection was carried out in two regions, Grodno and Vitebsk, in Belarus. In t...
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2021
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:a4fc9bc46891479d9e8a5aa4209d06a8 2023-05-15T15:50:41+02:00 Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus Daniel Klich Grigorij Yanuta Maria Sobczuk Marek Balcerak 2021-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 https://doaj.org/article/a4fc9bc46891479d9e8a5aa4209d06a8 EN eng MDPI AG https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/6/1758 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-2615 doi:10.3390/ani11061758 2076-2615 https://doaj.org/article/a4fc9bc46891479d9e8a5aa4209d06a8 Animals, Vol 11, Iss 1758, p 1758 (2021) ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 article 2021 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 2022-12-31T09:27:13Z After the emergence of African swine fever (ASF), the wild boar population numbers fell drastically in Eastern Europe. This situation made it possible to verify the changes in the wolves’ diet that occurred. The material collection was carried out in two regions, Grodno and Vitebsk, in Belarus. In total, 19 species/groups of prey were observed in the gray wolf diet, but the most important were wild boar, elk, red deer, roe deer and beaver. The decrease in the number of wild boar caused changes in the diet of wolves but only in Vitebsk region, where wolves’ diet before the ASF epidemic outbreak consisted mainly of elk and wild boar. After the decrease of wild boar numbers, wolves still mainly hunted elk, but other types of prey included roe deer, red deer and beaver. We found a negative correlation between wild boar and both deer species (roe deer and red deer) in the wolves’ diet. Moreover, the more the wolves consumed elk, the less they consumed beaver. In our opinion, only intensive hunting of wolves by humans can explain the resulting dietary fluctuations between elk and beaver, as well as the fact that wolves did not turn to other food sources. Article in Journal/Newspaper Canis lupus gray wolf Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Animals 11 6 1758 |
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ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 |
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ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 Daniel Klich Grigorij Yanuta Maria Sobczuk Marek Balcerak Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus |
topic_facet |
ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 |
description |
After the emergence of African swine fever (ASF), the wild boar population numbers fell drastically in Eastern Europe. This situation made it possible to verify the changes in the wolves’ diet that occurred. The material collection was carried out in two regions, Grodno and Vitebsk, in Belarus. In total, 19 species/groups of prey were observed in the gray wolf diet, but the most important were wild boar, elk, red deer, roe deer and beaver. The decrease in the number of wild boar caused changes in the diet of wolves but only in Vitebsk region, where wolves’ diet before the ASF epidemic outbreak consisted mainly of elk and wild boar. After the decrease of wild boar numbers, wolves still mainly hunted elk, but other types of prey included roe deer, red deer and beaver. We found a negative correlation between wild boar and both deer species (roe deer and red deer) in the wolves’ diet. Moreover, the more the wolves consumed elk, the less they consumed beaver. In our opinion, only intensive hunting of wolves by humans can explain the resulting dietary fluctuations between elk and beaver, as well as the fact that wolves did not turn to other food sources. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Daniel Klich Grigorij Yanuta Maria Sobczuk Marek Balcerak |
author_facet |
Daniel Klich Grigorij Yanuta Maria Sobczuk Marek Balcerak |
author_sort |
Daniel Klich |
title |
Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus |
title_short |
Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus |
title_full |
Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus |
title_fullStr |
Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus |
title_full_unstemmed |
Indirect Effect of African Swine Fever on the Diet Composition of the Gray Wolf Canis lupus —A Case Study in Belarus |
title_sort |
indirect effect of african swine fever on the diet composition of the gray wolf canis lupus —a case study in belarus |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 https://doaj.org/article/a4fc9bc46891479d9e8a5aa4209d06a8 |
genre |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
op_source |
Animals, Vol 11, Iss 1758, p 1758 (2021) |
op_relation |
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/6/1758 https://doaj.org/toc/2076-2615 doi:10.3390/ani11061758 2076-2615 https://doaj.org/article/a4fc9bc46891479d9e8a5aa4209d06a8 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 |
container_title |
Animals |
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11 |
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6 |
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1758 |
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1766385674526654464 |