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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ftmdpi:oai:mdpi.com:/2076-2615/11/6/1758/ 2023-08-20T04:05:48+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 agris 2021-06-12 application/pdf https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 EN eng Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute Ecology and Conservation https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Animals; Volume 11; Issue 6; Pages: 1758 ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk beaver diet Belarus Text 2021 ftmdpi https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 2023-08-01T01:56:22Z 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. Text Canis lupus gray wolf MDPI Open Access Publishing Animals 11 6 1758 |
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ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk beaver diet Belarus |
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ASF epidemic gray wolf wild boar deer elk beaver diet Belarus 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 beaver diet Belarus |
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 |
Text |
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 |
Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 |
op_coverage |
agris |
genre |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
genre_facet |
Canis lupus gray wolf |
op_source |
Animals; Volume 11; Issue 6; Pages: 1758 |
op_relation |
Ecology and Conservation https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061758 |
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Animals |
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11 |
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6 |
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1758 |
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1774716544329187328 |