Sudden death of an Arctic wolf population in Greenland
Keywords:
Canis lupus arctos, conservation, crash, disappearance, management, wolves
Abstract
This study reports the disappearance of a small Arctic wolf population in north-east Greenland founded in 1979 and provides the first long-term information on the wolf packs of this region. Data sources comprised specialized wolf surveys in two of three distributional core areas during three summers, 2012–14, and incidental sightings of wolves by military ground patrols during winter and by others year-round. The resulting time series spans 40 years (1979–2018). After gradually increasing for 14 years, the sighting rate peaked in 1996 and then declined to zero after May 2002, suggesting that the population went extinct. The crash occurred despite year-round legal protection in a national park and resulted in a 51.2% reduction in the extent of the occupied wolf range in Greenland and a 41.8% reduction in Greenland’s wolf population size. It was outside the scope of this study to conduct a complete analysis of all potential factors in the disappearance. In north Greenland, a small population of up to 32 wolves during optimal years continues to exist, and dispersers reach north-east Greenland occasionally. A number of measures are proposed that, if implemented by the Greenland Home Rule Government, would help secure the future of the few remaining wolves on the island.
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References
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Pecl G., Araujo M.B., Bell J.D., Blanchard J., Bonebrake T.C., Ching Chen I., Clark T.D., Colwell R.K., Danielsen F., Evengard B. & Robinson S.A. 2017. Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science 355, eaai9214, doi: 10.1126/science.aai9214.
Peterson R.O. & Page R.E. 1988. The rise and fall of Isle Royale wolves, 1975–1986. Journal of Mammalogy 69, 89–99, doi: 10.2307/1381751.
Riewe R.R. 1975. The High Arctic wolf in the Jones Sound region of the Canadian High Arctic. Arctic 28, 209–212, doi: 10.14430/arctic2835.
Tener J.S. 1952. A preliminary study of the muskoxen of Slidre Fiord District, Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island. M.Sc. thesis, University of British Columbia.
Vors L.S. & Boyce M.S. 2009. Global declines of caribou and reindeer. Global Change Biology 15, 2626–2633, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01974.x.
Adams L.G, Stephenson R.O., Dale B.W., Ahgook R.T. & Demma D.J. 2008. Population dynamics and harvest characteristics of wolves in the central Brooks Range, Alaska. Wildlife Monographs 170, 1–25, doi: 10.2193/2008-012.
Boertmann D. & Bay C. 2018. Grønlands Rødliste 2018. (Greenland Red List 2018.) Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University.
Boertmann D., Forchhammer M., Olesen C.R., Aastrup P. & Thing H. 1992. The Greenland muskox population status 1990. Rangifer 12, 5–12, doi: 10.7557/2.12.1.1013.
Brown J.H., Mehlman D.W. & Stevens G.C. 1995. Spatial variation in abundance. Ecology 76, 2028–2043, doi: 10.2307/1941678.
Field S.A., Tyre A.J. & Possingham H.P. 2005. Optimizing allocation of monitoring effort under economic and observational constraints. Journal of Wildlife Management 69, 473–482, doi: 10.2193/0022-541X(2005)069[0473:OAOMEU]2.0.CO;2.
Fritts S.H. & Mech L.D. 1981. Dynamics, movements, and feeding ecology of a newly protected wolf population in northwestern Minnesota. Wildlife Monographs 80. Bethesda, MD: Wildlife Society.
Gaston K.J. 1994. Rarity. Population and community biology series 13. New York: Chapman & Hall.
Grace E.S. 1976. Interactions between men and wolves at an Arctic outpost on Ellesmere Island. Canadian Field-Naturalist 90, 149–156.
Gray D.R. 1970. The killing of a bull muskox by a single wolf. Arctic 23, 197–199, doi: 10.14430/arctic3172.
Gray D.R. 1995. The wolves of Alert. Final report for Ellesmere Island National Park Reserve, Parks Canada, Dept. of Canadian Heritage. Metcalfe, ON: Greyhound Information Services.
Haynes G. 1982. Utilization and skeletal disturbances of North American prey carcasses. Arctic 35, 266–281, doi: 10.14430/arctic2325.
Krebs C.J. 1999. Ecological methodology. New York: Addison Wesley Longman.
Lomolino M.V. & Channell R. 1995. Splendid isolation: patterns of geographic range collapse in endangered mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 76, 335–347, doi: 10.2307/1382345.
Maagaard L. 1988. Ynglefund af polarulv (Canis lupus arctos) ved Danmarkshavn Nordøstgrønland. (Evidence of wolf [Canis lupus arctos] reproduction at Danmarkshavn, north-east Greenland.) Flora og Fauna 94, 89–92. (Includes English summary.)
Maagaard L. 1994. Ulvevandringer. (Wolf migrations.) Tidsskriftet Grønland 2, 49-61.
Manniche A.L.V. 1910. The terrestrial mammals and birds of north–north-east Greenland—biological observations. Meddelelser om Grønland 45. Copenhagen: C. A. Reitzels Forlag.
Marquard-Petersen U. 1998. Food habits of Arctic wolves in Greenland. Journal of Mammalogy 79, 236–244, doi: 10.2307/1382859.
Marquard-Petersen U. 2007. Ecology of the High Arctic wolf in northeast Greenland, 1899–1998. PhD thesis, University of Copenhagen.
Marquard-Petersen U. 2008. Reproduction and mortality of the High Arctic wolf, Canis lupus arctos, in northeast Greenland, 1978–1998. Canadian Field-Naturalist 122, 142–152, doi: 10.22621/cfn.v122i2.573.
Marquard-Petersen U. 2009. Abundance, social organization, and population trend of the Arctic wolf in north and northeast Greenland during 1978–1998. Canadian Journal of Zoology 87, 895–901, doi: 10.1139/Z09-078.
Marquard-Petersen U. 2011a. Invasion of eastern Greenland by the High Arctic wolf Canis lupus arctos. Wildlife Biology 17, 383–388, doi: 10.2981/11-032.
Marquard-Petersen U. 2011b. Insular and disjunct distribution of the Arctic wolf in Greenland, 1978–1998. Polar Biology 34, 1447–1454, doi: 10.1007/s00300-011-1002-5.
Marquard-Petersen U. 2012. Decline and extermination of an Arctic wolf population in northeast Greenland, 1899–1939. Arctic 65, 155–166, doi: 10.14430/arctic4197.
Mech L.D., Adams L.G., Meier T.J, Burch J.W. & Dale B.W. 1998. The wolves of Denali. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Mech L.D. & Cluff H.D. 2011. Movements of wolves at the northern extreme of the species’ range, including during 4 months of darkness. PLoS One 6, e25328, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025328.
Miller F.L. 1978. Interactions between men, dogs and wolves on western Queen Elizabeth Islands, Northwest Territories, Canada. The Musk-Ox 22, 70–72.
Miller F.L. 1993. Status of wolves in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Technical Report Series 173. Edmonton, AB: Canadian Wildlife Service Western and Northern Region.
Miller F.L. & Reintjes F.D. 1995. Wolf-sightings on the Canadian Arctic Islands. Arctic 48, 313–323, doi: 10.14430/arctic1253.
Miller F.L. & Russell R.H. 1977. Unreliability of strip aerial surveys for estimating numbers of wolves on western Queen Elizabeth Islands, Northwest Territories. Canadian Field-Naturalist 91, 77–81.
Pecl G., Araujo M.B., Bell J.D., Blanchard J., Bonebrake T.C., Ching Chen I., Clark T.D., Colwell R.K., Danielsen F., Evengard B. & Robinson S.A. 2017. Biodiversity redistribution under climate change: impacts on ecosystems and human well-being. Science 355, eaai9214, doi: 10.1126/science.aai9214.
Peterson R.O. & Page R.E. 1988. The rise and fall of Isle Royale wolves, 1975–1986. Journal of Mammalogy 69, 89–99, doi: 10.2307/1381751.
Riewe R.R. 1975. The High Arctic wolf in the Jones Sound region of the Canadian High Arctic. Arctic 28, 209–212, doi: 10.14430/arctic2835.
Tener J.S. 1952. A preliminary study of the muskoxen of Slidre Fiord District, Fosheim Peninsula, Ellesmere Island. M.Sc. thesis, University of British Columbia.
Vors L.S. & Boyce M.S. 2009. Global declines of caribou and reindeer. Global Change Biology 15, 2626–2633, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2009.01974.x.
Published
2021-03-31
How to Cite
Marquard-Petersen U. (2021). Sudden death of an Arctic wolf population in Greenland. Polar Research, 40. https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v40.5493
Issue
Section
Research Articles
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