European Wolves

[Ngala]

3 - BALTIC POPULATION 

"The Baltic wolf population is distributed throughout Estonia (200–260), Latvia (200–400), Lithuania (∼300) and north-eastern Poland (270–360), comprising 900–1400 animals in total. As in other parts of Europe, the Baltic wolf population experienced near-extermination in the 1970s and 1980s (Jedrzejewski et al., 2005; Baltrunaite, Balciauskas & Akesson, 2013), leaving signs of genetic bottlenecks in wolves from Estonia, Latvia (Hindrikson et al., 2013; Plumer et al., 2016) and neighbouring Russia (Sastre et al., 2011). In general, the Baltic population exhibits relatively high levels of heterozygosity compared with many other European wolf populations (Jedrzejewski et al., 2005; Baltrunaite et al., 2013; Czarnomska et al., 2013; Hindrikson et al., 2013). Moreover, a cryptic genetic structuring has been found in the Estonian–Latvian part of this population (Hindrikson et al., 2013) and the authors proposed that the four genetic groups identified reflect recent population bottlenecks, severe hunting pressure and immigration. The Estonian population is expanding and has recently (in 2010–2011) recolonized the two largest islands of the country, Saaremaa and Hiiumaa (Plumer et al., 2016)."

The main threats
"Low public acceptance due to livestock depredation, especially in islands in western Estonia (Plumer et al., 2016), diseases and human-caused mortality, including illegal killing, are the biggest threats to the Baltic wolf population (Table 4; Figs 7 and 8). However, large infrastructure developments and fragmentation of suitable habitat by intensive forestry and an increase in agricultural land can also pose a significant threat. These problems are expected to remain, if not increase in the future, e.g. the forthcoming construction of Rail Baltic and new highways. Moreover, the new fence currently being built at the Estonian–Russian border will probably decrease gene flow between wolf populations in these countries, although complete isolation is unlikely as wolves can cross Lake Peipus during winter. Although gene flow occurs between Latvia and Estonia (Hindrikson et al., 2013), there is no information on the extent of gene flow for the whole Baltic population. Similarly, there is a lack of knowledge on gene flow with neighbouring populations. Hybridization with dogs has been identified in Latvia, Estonia and northern Poland (Andersone et al., 2002; Hindrikson et al., 2012; Stronen et al., 2013), but not in Lithuania (Baltrunaite et al., 2013). However, the rate of introgressive hybridization has not yet been determined; if high, it can pose a threat to wolf long-term adaptive potential (Table 4), or produce a different evolutionary trajectory, towards another kind of canid (possibly well adapted to modified landscapes) and away from the historial ecological role of wolves."

Source: 
Hindrikson, M., Remm, J., Pilot, M., Godinho, R., Stronen, A. V., Baltrūnaité, L., Czarnomska, S. D., Leonard, J. A., Randi, E., Nowak, C., Åkesson, M., López-Bao, J. V., Álvares, F., Llaneza, L., Echegaray, J., Vilà, C., Ozolins, J., Rungis, D., Aspi, J., Paule, L., Skrbinšek, T. and Saarma, U. (2016), Wolf population genetics in Europe: a systematic review, meta-analysis and suggestions for conservation and management. Biol Rev. doi:10.1111/brv.12298

Wolf from Tartumaa (Tartu County), Estonia. Credits to Sven Zacek.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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