Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania.
The Romanian wolf population, one of the largest in Europe, occupies a total home-range of 154500 km2 and is spread across a variety of landscapes-from anthropized hills and plateaus to remote, densely forested mountains. However, this population is markedly understudied, and even basic knowledge of...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2019-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225424 |
| _version_ | 1819017563289419776 |
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| author | Teodora Sin Andrea Gazzola Silviu Chiriac Geta Rîșnoveanu |
| author_facet | Teodora Sin Andrea Gazzola Silviu Chiriac Geta Rîșnoveanu |
| author_sort | Teodora Sin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Romanian wolf population, one of the largest in Europe, occupies a total home-range of 154500 km2 and is spread across a variety of landscapes-from anthropized hills and plateaus to remote, densely forested mountains. However, this population is markedly understudied, and even basic knowledge of the species' feeding habits is deficient. Wolf diet was assessed based on 236 scat samples collected between November 2013 and October 2014, by following pre-established transects (total length = 774 km). The study area (600 km2) is a multi-prey ecosystem in the southern sector of the Eastern Romanian Carpathians. Our results emphasize that more than 80% of the wolf diet is based on wild ungulates. The wild boar is clearly selected (D = 0.74) and is the most common species in the diet (Bio = 72%), while roe deer (Bio = 10%) and red deer (Bio = 5%) have a smaller contribution. Domestic species represented the second-largest prey category in both seasons. Among them, dog is a particularly important source of food (Bio 3.5-10.9%). Other domestic species (goat, sheep, horse) have marginal importance in the wolf diet and seasonal occurrence. Standardized niche breadths are low in both seasons (BAw = 0.07, BAs = 0.12), and a high degree of overlap in the resources used has been observed (Ôws = 0.99). Our study represents the first step towards understanding the wolf foraging behaviour in the Romanian Carpathians and is valuable to address the complex issues of wolf and wild ungulate population management and conservation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:05:31Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ff2ed319ff654aa5a5d19b8ff14c4a13 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-21T03:05:31Z |
| publishDate | 2019-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-ff2ed319ff654aa5a5d19b8ff14c4a132022-12-21T19:18:06ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032019-01-011411e022542410.1371/journal.pone.0225424Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania.Teodora SinAndrea GazzolaSilviu ChiriacGeta RîșnoveanuThe Romanian wolf population, one of the largest in Europe, occupies a total home-range of 154500 km2 and is spread across a variety of landscapes-from anthropized hills and plateaus to remote, densely forested mountains. However, this population is markedly understudied, and even basic knowledge of the species' feeding habits is deficient. Wolf diet was assessed based on 236 scat samples collected between November 2013 and October 2014, by following pre-established transects (total length = 774 km). The study area (600 km2) is a multi-prey ecosystem in the southern sector of the Eastern Romanian Carpathians. Our results emphasize that more than 80% of the wolf diet is based on wild ungulates. The wild boar is clearly selected (D = 0.74) and is the most common species in the diet (Bio = 72%), while roe deer (Bio = 10%) and red deer (Bio = 5%) have a smaller contribution. Domestic species represented the second-largest prey category in both seasons. Among them, dog is a particularly important source of food (Bio 3.5-10.9%). Other domestic species (goat, sheep, horse) have marginal importance in the wolf diet and seasonal occurrence. Standardized niche breadths are low in both seasons (BAw = 0.07, BAs = 0.12), and a high degree of overlap in the resources used has been observed (Ôws = 0.99). Our study represents the first step towards understanding the wolf foraging behaviour in the Romanian Carpathians and is valuable to address the complex issues of wolf and wild ungulate population management and conservation.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225424 |
| spellingShingle | Teodora Sin Andrea Gazzola Silviu Chiriac Geta Rîșnoveanu Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. PLoS ONE |
| title | Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. |
| title_full | Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. |
| title_fullStr | Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. |
| title_full_unstemmed | Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. |
| title_short | Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania. |
| title_sort | wolf diet and prey selection in the south eastern carpathian mountains romania |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0225424 |
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