Lopez, José
- Department of Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- University of Oviedo
Abstract
Policies have the potential to affect human-wildlife coexistence. However, despite consequences being evident beforehand or emerging soon after their implementation, potential conflicts between policies and biodiversity conservation are not always easy to predict. Wolves feeding on anthropogenic food sources (AFS) usually fall into conflict with humans, mainly due to predation on livestock. But the availability of AFS can be influenced by different policies leading to diet shifts, which could trigger new conflicts or exacerbate existing ones. Here, we show a long-term shift in the diet of wolves in northwestern Iberia over the last three decades and discuss its potential connection to changes in sanitary, environmental, and socioeconomic policies. Wolves persisted for a long time due to the activity of humans with AFS accounting for > 94 % of their diet. Our results suggest a connection between a diet shift in wolves and changes in policies, from a broad diet including more feedlot (pigs, chickens) and medium-sized (goats and dogs) species, mainly in the form of carrion, to a more narrow diet based primarily on large domestic ungulates (cattle and horses). We discuss the potential implications of the observed shift in the diet of wolves on human-wolf conflicts. We also call attention on the pressing need to integrate policies into biodiversity conservation to anticipate future conservation and management dilemmas.
Keywords
Long-termdiet shift; EU policies; Sanitary regulations; Rural economy; Canis lupus; Livestock predation; Cattle; Scavenging; Free-ranging horses; Human-wildlife conflicts
Published in
European Journal of Wildlife Research
2015, volume: 61, number: 6, pages: 895-902
SLU Authors
Global goals (SDG)
UKÄ Subject classification
Other Social Sciences not elsewhere specified
Ecology
Zoology
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-015-0966-9
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/70112