Fertility control and the ecological consequences of managing Northern wolf populations

grantor: University of TorontoI hypothesized that sterilization would not alter basic wolf behaviour. I studied the behaviour of 17 surgically sterilized wolves from 7 small wolf packs. Sterilized wolves maintained existing pair bonds, defended their original territories, and exhibited denning behaviour. I constructed a simulation model to predict the long term ecological effects of sterilizing a wolf population. The model simulates lethal wolf control, wolf fertility control, human harvest of ungulates, and stochastic weather variation. Fertility control can augment rates of moose and caribou population increase, but lethal control is required to initiate the recovery of a critically small caribou herd. Dall sheep populations do not obviously benefit from wolf management. All prey populations are sensitive to weather variability and constant levels of harvest. The results of the short term behaviour study and the long term model simulations suggest that fertility control may be an effective way to manage wolf populations.M.Sc