13 October 2015, 8p
a
Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30621, USA.
b School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
c Endangered Wolf Center, Eureka, Missouri, USA
b School of Renewable Natural Resources, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center and Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA
c Endangered Wolf Center, Eureka, Missouri, USA
Abstract
Following precipitous
population declines as a result of intensive hunting and 20th century
predator-control programmes, hybridization of the Critically Endangered
red wolf Canis rufus with coyotes
Canis latrans posed a significant challenge for red wolf recovery
efforts. Anthropogenic mortality and hybridization continue to pose
challenges; the increasing number of wolf deaths caused by humans has
limited wolf population growth, facilitated the encroachment of coyotes
into eastern North Carolina, and affected the formation and disbandment
of breeding pairs. We assessed the effects of anthropogenic mortality
on Canis breeding units during a 22-year period (1991–2013). Our results
show that deaths caused by people accounted for 40.6% of breeding pair
disbandment, and gunshots were the primary cause of mortality. Red
wolves replaced congeneric breeding pairs > 75% of the time when
pairs disbanded under natural conditions or as a result of management
actions. Since the mid 2000s anthropogenic mortality has caused annual
preservation rates of red wolf breeding pairs to decline by 34%, and
replacement of Canis breeders by red wolves to decline by 30%. Our
results demonstrate that human-caused mortality, specifically by
gunshots, had a strong negative effect on the longevity of red wolf
pairs, which may benefit coyotes indirectly by removing their primary competitor. Coyotes
are exacerbating the decline of red wolves by pair-bonding with
resident wolves whose mates have been killed. Copyright © Fauna &
Flora International 2015
Author keywords
Canis latrans; Canis rufus; conservation; coyote; group living; management; mortality; red wolf
ISSN: 00306053
CODEN: ORYXASource Type: Journal
Original language: English
DOI: 10.1017/S0030605315000770Document Type: Article in Press
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
