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Home range size variation in a recovering wolf population: evaluating the effect of environmental, demographic, and social factors

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Abstract

Home range size in mammals is a key ecological trait and an important parameter in conservation planning, and has been shown to be influenced by ecological, demographic and social factors in animal populations. Information on space requirements is especially important for carnivore species which range over very large areas and often come into direct conflict with human interest. We used long-term telemetry-location data from a recovering wolf population in Scandinavia to investigate variation in home range size in relation to environmental and social characteristics of the different packs. Wolves showed considerable variation in home range size, which ranged from 259 to 1,676 km2. Although wolf density increased fourfold during the study period, we found no evidence that intraspecific competition influenced range size. Local variation in moose density, which was the main prey for most packs, did not influence wolf home range size. Home ranges increased with latitude and elevation and decreased with increased roe deer density. Although prey biomass alone did not influence range size, our data suggest that there is a correlation between habitat characteristics, choice of prey species and possible hunting success, which currently combine to shape home range size in Scandinavian wolves.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been funded by the Directorate for Nature Management, the Research Council of Norway, the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Hedmark University College and the Office of Environmental Affairs in Hedmark County in Norway and by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (Sweden), the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the Olle and Signhild Engkvists Stiftelser, the Carl Tryggers Stiftelse, and the Swedish Carnivore Association. We thank all the people that participated in the field work. We thank Barbara Zimmerman and John Odden for their help in earlier analyses, and Camilla Wikenros, José Vicente López-Bao and two anonymous reviewers for comments on previous versions of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Sluppen, P.O. Box 5685, Trondheim, 7485, Norway

    Jenny Mattisson, Vincenzo Gervasi, John D. C. Linnell & Hans Christian Pedersen

  2. Grimsö Wildlife Research Station, Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Riddarhyttan, 73091, Sweden

    Håkan Sand, Olof Liberg & Geir Rune Rauset

  3. Faculty of Forestry and Wildlife Management, Hedmark University College, Koppang, 2480, Norway

    Petter Wabakken

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  1. Jenny Mattisson
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  2. Håkan Sand
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Correspondence to Jenny Mattisson.

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Communicated by Christopher Johnson.

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Mattisson, J., Sand, H., Wabakken, P. et al. Home range size variation in a recovering wolf population: evaluating the effect of environmental, demographic, and social factors. Oecologia 173, 813–825 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-013-2668-x

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