Wolf response to two kinds of barriers in an agricultural habitat in Spain.

We examined the effect of two kinds of barriers on an expanding gray wolf, Canis lupus L., 1758, population in an agricultural habitat in north-central Spain. The barriers were (i) a four-lane fenced highway along a flat area without wildlife-crossing facilities, and (ii) the River Duero artery (RDA), comprising the river itself (50-100 m wide) and several small infraestructures along it. From March 1997 to October 2001, all 4 radio-collared wolves loving <15km from the highway (1 adult territorial male, 1 territorial breeder female, 1 dispersingmale, amb 1 female in 3 periods of her life (territorial immature, disperser and territorial breeder)) crossed it on between 4% and 33% of 45-163 monitoring days via vehicles bridge. Moreover, 4 more highways that we monitored in areas without radio-collared wolves have not delay expansion of the increasing wolf population, suggesting that these highways are not an important barrier for wolves in our study area. In contrast, only 3 of 8 wolves radio-collared < 5 km from the RDA were detected crossing it, and 2 of those 3 started to cross it only after severe habitatdisturbance; in addition, the RDA seems to have delayed wolf expansion for some 15 years, which suggests that it is a semipermeable barrier for wolves. We discuss the likely consequences of the RDA on the recovery of the Iberian wolf population.

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Blanco J.C. Cortés Y. y Virgós E. Wolf response to two kinds of barriers in an agricultural habitat in Spain. Canadian Science Publishing, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1139/z05-016

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Resource type Text
Date of creation 2025-05-23
Date of last revision 2025-05-23
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Metadata identifier 6023442b-6370-508d-b6b9-7fa7a5e50a04
Metadata language Spanish
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ISO 19115 topic category biota
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Name of the dataset creator Blanco, J.C., Cortés, Y. y Virgós, E.
Name of the dataset editor Canadian Science Publishing
Other identifier DOI: 10.1139/z05-016
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