Wolf diet and prey selection in the South-Eastern Carpathian Mountains, Romania

摘要: The Romanian wolf population, one of the largest in Europe, occupies a total home-range 154500 km2 and is spread across variety landscapes–from anthropized hills plateaus to remote, densely forested mountains. However, this population markedly understudied, even basic knowledge species’ feeding habits deficient. Wolf diet was assessed based on 236 scat samples collected between November 2013 October 2014, by following pre-established transects (total length = 774 km). study area (600 km2) multi-prey ecosystem southern sector Eastern Carpathians. Our results emphasize that more than 80% wild ungulates. boar clearly selected (D 0.74) most common species (Bio 72%), while roe deer 10%) red 5%) have smaller contribution. Domestic represented second-largest prey category both seasons. Among them, dog particularly important source food 3.5–10.9%). Other domestic (goat, sheep, horse) marginal importance seasonal occurrence. Standardized niche breadths are low seasons (BAw 0.07, BAs 0.12), high degree overlap resources used has been observed (Ows 0.99). represents first step towards understanding foraging behaviour Carpathians valuable address complex issues ungulate management conservation.