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Prey selection and dietary response by wolves in a high-density multi-species ungulate community

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Abstract

Studies on predation by the wolf (Canis lupus) have often reported contradictory results about the role of prey density and vulnerability on wolf prey use. We investigated dietary response and prey selection by wolves in a high-density and multi-species ungulate community, analysing scats collected over a period of 11 years in the Casentinesi Forests, Italy. The second most abundant species, wild boar (Sus scrofa), was found to be the main wolf prey, and we did not observe any dietary response of wolves to variations in the density of either primary or secondary prey species. Selection patterns were uniform throughout the study period. Wolves strongly selected for wild boar piglets, while roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) fawns and adults, red deer (Cervus elaphus) adults and fallow deer (Dama dama) adults were avoided. Wolf preference for wild boar was inversely density dependent. Within each species, juveniles were preferred to adults. Medium-sized, young individuals of both wild boar and roe deer were optimal prey, although with different selection patterns related to the different anti-predator strategies adopted by each prey species. The results of this study suggest that in productive ecosystems with high density and high renewal rates of prey, selection patterns by wolves are determined by prey vulnerability, which is connected to prey age and body size. The different patterns of wild boar versus cervids use by wolf across Europe seems to be related to their relative abundances, while the strong selection of wild boar in Italian Apennines with respect to the more frequent avoidance in central-eastern Europe is better explained by higher piglet productivity and smaller body size of adults boar in Mediterranean temperate forests.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Administration ex-ASFD of Pratovecchio for providing facilities during the study and to the Provincial Administration of Arezzo for logistic and financial support. We would like to thank Elisa Avanzinelli, Ivo Bertelli, Lilia Orlandi and Jean Claude Pucci for their contributions in collection and analysis of scats. We are also very grateful to Włodzimierz Jędrzejewski and Alberto Meriggi, for their general suggestions. This study complied with the current laws of Italy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Provincial Administration of Arezzo, Piazza della Libertà 3, Arezzo, Italy

    Luca Mattioli

  2. Department of Zoology and Evolutionary Genetics, University of Sassari, via Muroni 25, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    Andrea Gazzola, Massimo Scandura & Marco Apollonio

  3. Joint Research Centre, Institute for Environment and Sustainability, Rural, Water and Ecosystem Resources Unit, via E. Fermi, 21027, Ispra, Italy

    Claudia Capitani

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  1. Luca Mattioli
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  2. Claudia Capitani
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  4. Massimo Scandura
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  5. Marco Apollonio
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Correspondence to Marco Apollonio.

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Communicated by C. Gortázar

Appendix

Appendix

Table 5 Comparison of the significant results assessed for p = 0.01 of selection ratio w i calculated for the eight possible calculations (columns 1–8) performed taking into account the upper and lower values of 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of wild boar and roe deer late-winter density (positive sign, selection and negative sign, avoidance)
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Mattioli, L., Capitani, C., Gazzola, A. et al. Prey selection and dietary response by wolves in a high-density multi-species ungulate community. Eur J Wildl Res 57, 909–922 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-011-0503-4

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