Gray wolf packs and human-caused wolf mortality
Cite this dataset
Cassidy, Kira et al. (2022). Gray wolf packs and human-caused wolf mortality [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.mkkwh713f
Abstract
Gray wolves (Canis lupus) are group-living carnivores that travel over large areas and are one of the most controversial species in North America. Gray wolf management over the last century has ranged from eradication by nearly any means to preservation under the Endangered Species Act to state-managed which often includes limited hunting and, in some areas, population reduction. Management decisions are complicated by transboundary movements of wildlife, especially when the bordering agencies have disparate goals or mandates. This data is specific to gray wolves and packs using five National Park Service (NPS) units (years of data): Denali National Park and Preserve (33 years), Grand Teton National Park (23 years), Voyageurs National Park (12 years), Yellowstone National Park (27 years), and Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve (23 years). This dataset features two measures of gray wolf biological processes, pack persistence and reproduction, and was used to determine the impacts of anthropogenic mortality on the pack. We examined persistence and reproduction at the pack level given known wolf mortalities and pack sizes.
Methods
All data were collected by NPS staff and partners by deploying radio collars on each wolf pack using the National Park unit. Wolf packs were tracked aerially several times per month to determine persistence through time. Pack size was recorded during tracking. For each biological year a pack persisted, they were given a pack-year entry. Reproduction was determined through localization around a den or visual of at least one pup during the biological year. Human-caused mortalities were recorded and confirmed with necropsies and other wildlife official reports and then assigned to a specific pack-year.
Funding
Living With Wolves
Browning Family
National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, Award: DEB-0613730
National Science Foundation of Sri Lanka, Award: DEB-1245373
Yellowstone Forever
National Park Service
University of Minnesota System
Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund
Voyageurs Conservancy
Rainy Lake Conservancy
International Wolf Center
Wolf Conservation Center
Northern Michigan University
The 06 Legacy
National Wolfwatcher Coalition
Minnesota Department of Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation
Wildlife Science Center
Van Sloun Foundation
NatureSpy
Vectronic-Aerospace
Bell Museum of Natural History
Grand Teton National Park Foundation
Central Alaska Network Inventory and Monitoring Program
United States Geological Survey
Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve and the Central Alaska Inventory and Monitoring Network
National Geographic Society