Pup‐rearing habitat use in a harvested carnivore

Abstract

ABSTRACTChanges in behavior and habitat use are often influenced by the risk of predation, including harvest, and carnivores alter their habitat use and movements to minimize predation risk. Large carnivores are subject to harvest around the world; however, few studies examine whether habitat use is different between harvested and unharvested carnivore populations. We examined the effects of harvest on gray wolf (Canis lupus) use of pup‐rearing habitat. We predicted that in comparison to an unharvested population of wolves, wolves subject to harvest would use less suitable pup‐rearing habitat (i.e., sites with no standing water source and dense vegetation with no open areas) and locate pup‐rearing sites in areas with lower human activity. We also predicted that wolves would use less suitable pup‐rearing habitat following breeder turnover. Finally, we predicted that field surveys using a method for monitoring an unharvested wolf population would detect fewer active pup‐rearing sites and document fewer detections of scat, tracks, and howls of a harvested wolf population. We tested whether a habitat model for predicting pup‐rearing sites used by an unharvested wolf population accurately predicted sites used by a harvested wolf population. To examine the effect of human activity, we calculated the road density within a 500‐m buffer around sites used by an unharvested and harvested population of wolves. We also evaluated the habitat suitability of pup‐rearing sites following the death of a breeder. Finally, we conducted field surveys of a harvested wolf population with a monitoring technique used for unharvested wolf populations, and compared detections of pup‐rearing sites, scats, tracks, and howls between the unharvested and harvested wolf populations. Harvest did not affect wolf use of pup‐rearing habitat. Wolves subject to harvest used highly suitable habitat (i.e., areas with standing, ephemeral water) to raise pups, road density near pup‐rearing sites did not differ between harvested and unharvested wolf populations, and breeder turnover did not result in packs choosing less suitable pup‐rearing habitat. Finally, field surveys successfully detected pup‐rearing sites of wolves subject to harvest but documented fewer detections of scats and tracks, likely because of a decrease in wolf density. Wolves subject to harvest chose highly suitable habitat to raise pups, indicating that such habitat provides optimal resources in a landscape where harvest is a dominant source of mortality. In areas where such habitat is limited, it is important to consider how environmental changes affect the availability of suitable habitat. © 2018 The Wildlife Society.