We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Short-term response of gray wolves, Canis lupus, to wildfire in northwestern Alaska
- Authors
Ballard, Warren B.; Krausman, Paul R.; Whitlaw, Heather A.; Cunningham, Stan; Boe, Sue
- Abstract
There is a paucity of data concerning the effects of wildfires on large carnivores. During summer 1988 a wildfire burned 845 km2 of taiga forest within the territory of two radiocollared Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) packs in northwest Alaska. We contrasted their use ofareas that were burned with areas that were not burned before, during, and after fire. Wolves used the area that was later burned disproportionately more than expected before the fire. During and after (i.e., remainder of summer) the fire, they used the burned area more thanexpected during summer, but as expected during winter. Three years after the fire wolves began using the burned area similarly to their use before the fire; up until that time, wolves used the burned area less than it had been used prior to the burn. We attributed the changes in wolf distribution to changes in ungulate availability which wereprobably caused by the wildfire.
- Subjects
ANIMALS; BOTANY; CARIBOU; FOREST management; HABITATS
- Publication
Canadian Field-Naturalist, 2000, Vol 114, Issue 2, p241
- ISSN
0008-3550
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.5962/p.363956