Scent marking in wolves Canis lupus inhabiting managed lowland forests in Poland
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Scent marking in wolves Canis lupus inhabiting managed lowland forests in Poland Kinga M. Stępniak 1
&
Natalia Niedźwiecka 2 & Maciej Szewczyk 3
&
Robert W. Mysłajek 4
Received: 25 August 2019 / Accepted: 2 June 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract In wolves Canis lupus, scent marking plays an important role in territory defence. In Europe, studies on patterns of scent marking in wolves have mostly been conducted in mountains or primeval forests, but since these areas are characterised by low human activity, the impact of people on this behaviour has been neglected. We conducted a study that combined genetic methods with an analysis of the spatial distribution of wolf territory markings in lowland managed forests with high human activity. We found that scent markings are deposited by all members of wolf family groups. Wolves most intensively marked crossroads and their vicinity, especially on roads only accessible for four-wheel drive cars. Our study provides further evidence that crossroads of forest roads play a crucial role in wolf scent marking. The results of our study may be useful during inventories of wolf populations based on collecting indirect signs of their presence or non-invasive genetic sampling. Keywords Canis lupus . Scent marking . Wolves . Crossroads . Forest roads
Introduction The wolf population went through a steep historical decline, but recently, the wolf’s key ecological role has been increasingly recognized, leading to the introduction of conservation programs (Mysłajek and Nowak 2015), creation of protected areas (Diserens et al. 2017), and its reintroduction to several places (Fritts et al. 1997). As a result, wolf numbers have increased both in Europe (Chapron et al. 2014) and North America (Phillips et al. 2004). This increase in wolf populations coincides with recolonisation of landscapes dominated Communicated by: Karol Zub * Kinga M. Stępniak [email protected] 1
Institute of Genetics and Biotechnology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Pawińskiego 5a, 02-106 Warszawa, Poland
2
Association for Nature “Wolf”, Cynkowa 4, 34-324 Twardorzeczka, Poland
3
Department of Vertebrate Ecology and Zoology, Faculty of Biology, University of Gdańsk, Wita Stwosza 59, 80-308 Gdańsk, Poland
4
Department of Ecology, Institute of Functional Biology and Ecology, Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Biological and Chemical Research Centre, Żwirki i Wigury 101, 02-089 Warszawa, Poland
and shaped by humans (Kuijper et al. 2016). Wolves are the most widely distributed large carnivore species with which humans share the landscape (Mech and Boitani 2003). Although living close to humans can provide benefits to wolves in the form of human-derived resources (Newsome et al. 2015), the fear of humans as an apex predator can negatively impact large carnivores. Risk correlated with human presence can impact wolf movements, which may limit hunting and feeding behaviour (Berger 2007; Kuijper et al. 2016; Suraci et al. 2019). Wolf breeding site selection is strongl
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