Northeast Wolf Coalition
Find us
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Members, Mentors, Supporters
  • History
    • 2003-2005 Legal Challenge: Protecting Wolves in the Northeast
    • Henry P. Kendall Foundation Survey, 2002
  • Take Action
  • Northeast News
  • Resources
    • Carnivore Coexistence
    • EASTERN WOLF
    • Hybridization Dynamics
    • Canis Taxonomy
    • Status by State
    • Wildlife Recreation Expenditures >
      • New York State
      • Maine
      • Vermont
      • Massachusetts
      • New Hampshire
    • News, Info., References About Prey Populations
    • The Red Wolf
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • DONATE

Big-game jitters: Coyotes no match for wolves’ hunting prowess

4/21/2017

0 Comments

 
STUDY SUGGESTS LOSING WOLF POPULATIONS COULD DESTABILIZE ECOSYSTEMS
PicturePhoto courtesy from John Benson with wolf pups
Without wolves, coyotes have become the de facto top dog throughout the Midwest and East Coast. But new research suggests coyotes lack the hunting prowess to fill the ecological void left by the eastern wolf.

The research, led by John Benson, an ecologist at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, fits into the larger scientific effort to understand the roles predators play in shaping habitats and maintaining ecological balance. 

Benson, who authored the study with former doctoral adviser Brent Patterson, a research scientist at the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry; Karen Loveless of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks; and Linda Rutledge of Trent said, “Our work suggests that there’s an ecological role that wolves play that won’t be played by other animals. That’s probably a role that’s worth conserving on landscapes, even outside protected areas. If we’re interested in restoring landscapes to a more natural, functioning ecosystem, this would be an important part of that.”

Benson's work, while just a start, has highlighted the unique role of the eastern wolf.  "We've shown that these wolves and coyotes exhibit different kill rates on deer and moose, and identified some key factors that influence this predation," Benson said. "The next steps will involve linking these predation patterns to the population dynamics of both predator and prey to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the relationships between these species."

Ecological balance is the product of thousands of years, and should be preserved for its intrinsic and extrinsic values. But policy makers and wildlife officials often demand numbers to help make management decisions. Benson and his fellow wildlife scientists won't ever be able offer certainties, but scientists are getting better at modeling predator-prey interactions and measuring the ecological impacts of specific species.

"The good news is people are trying to do these things -- asking bigger and better questions," Benson said. "And the technology we use in the field and the quantitative methods we use to build the models are improving every day. So as with much in science, the goal will be to keep asking the right questions, collecting the best data we can, and finding the most informative way possible to analyze the data."

Article originally posted by Scott Schrage, Mar. 22, 2017 from University of Nebraska-Lincoln,
"Big-game jitters: Coyotes no match for wolves’ hunting prowess"
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Northeast
    Wolf Coalition

    Periodically, members of the Coalition and interested stakeholders will share their thoughts about wolf recovery in the Northeast.

    Archives

    April 2017
    March 2017
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    January 2016
    September 2015
    July 2015
    March 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Christina Eisenberg
    Northeast USA Wildlife
    Predator Conservation
    The Carnivore Way
    Wolf Conservation

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly