Persson, Jens
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
We studied reproduction of 56 female wolverines (Gulo gulo) in 2 areas of northern Scandinavia. Minimum average age at 1st reproduction was 3.4 years. Mean proportion of females (??3 years old) reproducing was 0.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] ¼ 0.43–0.63, n ¼ 94), and the annual mean was 0.58 (95% CI ¼ 0.35–0.80, n ¼ 83). Mean annual birth rate was 0.74 (95% CI ¼ 0.33–1.14, n ¼ 83) young per female (?? 3 years old). Mean size of 74 litters was 1.88 (95% CI ¼ 1.68–2.07, range ¼ 1–4). Examination of our data suggests that female wolverines have low productivity and low capacity to compensate for increased mortality. Therefore, wildlife managers should consider wolverine demographics, especially mortality of adult female wolverines, when developing and implementing conservation policies and harvest regulations
Keywords
birth rate; carnivore; gulo gulo; litter size; mustelid; recruitment; reproduction; Scandinavia; wolverine
Published in
Journal of Mammalogy
2006, volume: 87, number: 1, pages: 75-79
Publisher: American Society of Mammalogists
SLU Authors
Segerström, Peter
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Conservation Biology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1644/04-.1
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/9678