European Wolves

[Ngala]

8 - DINARIC-BALKAN POPULATION

"The Dinaric-Balkan population consists of ∼3900 wolves in eight countries: Albania (200–250 individuals), Bulgaria (700–800), Bosnia and Herzegovina (650), Croatia (168–219), Greece (700), Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (466), Serbia (750–850) and Slovenia (32–43) (Chapron et al., 2014). From Slovenia to northern Greece, the wolf range shows substantial continuity along the Dinaric and Balkan Mountains (Musiani et al., 2009; Gomercic et al., 2010), and Bakan et al. (2014) also identified gene flow between Serbia and Bulgaria (Fig. 1; see Appendix S2). Of all European wolf populations, this one spans the largest number of national borders, and is consequently subject to the most diverse array of monitoring and management approaches (Kaczensky et al., 2013). Bulgarian (Lucchini et al., 2004; Bakan et al., 2014; Moura et al., 2014; Pilot et al., 2014a), Greek (Moura et al., 2014), Serbian (Bakan et al., 2014), Croatian (Gomercic et al., 2010) and Slovenian (Majic-Skrbinsek, 2014) wolves have been studied with microsatellite markers (Appendix S1). Both Bulgarian and Croatian wolves are in the process of recovering from severe bottlenecks that started in the 19th century and lasted up to the 1970s–1980s (Gomercic et al., 2010; Moura et al., 2014). The Dinaric-Balkan wolf population is a valuable source of genetic diversity for neighbouring populations, as indicated by ongoing recolonization of the eastern and central Alps by Dinaric-Balkan wolves (Fabbri et al., 2014; Razen et al., 2016), and by the considerable level of gene flow between the Caucasus and the Balkans (Bulgaria) through intermediary populations (Pilot et al., 2014a). The population, however, shows genetic substructuring already at relatively local scales (Fabbri et al., 2014), indicating the need for further research to understand its internal genetic and demographic connectivity and delineate conservation and management units."
 
The main threats
"In general, low acceptance (for example in Bulgaria, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) due to pressure on wild ungulate populations and therefore conflicts with hunters (mainly in Greece and Bulgaria) or farmers (livestock conflicts in Bulgaria and Slovenia) are common causes for human persecution (Kaczensky et al., 2013) (Table 4; Figs 7 and 8). In several countries (Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) the main threats are limited knowledge on the ecology and population trends of wolves, and poor management structure (Kaczensky et al., 2013) (Table 4; Fig. 8). The population appears to be more or less continuous throughout the Dinaric-Balkan range and is one of the genetically most diverse in Europe (Table 1), having connections with the Alpine (Fabbri et al., 2014) population (Fig. 1). In general, there is a need to clarify the distribution and population sub-structuring within this large population. In some countries such as Albania, Greece and Southern Croatia (Dalmatia), hybridization with dogs might pose a potential risk (Kaczensky et al., 2013; Stronen et al., 2013; Majic-Skrbinsek, 2014). In Bulgaria, a recent genetic study found hybridization of wolves with domestic dogs and possibly also with golden jackals (Moura et al., 2014), while in Greece, an animal with dog ancestry was identified (Stronen et al., 2013)."

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 Eastern Rhodope Mountains, Bulgaria. From Neophron Tours, credits to Haim Israeli.

*This image is copyright of its original author

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