Pilot study on the possible influence of wolves on activity cycles, spatio-temporal behavior and occurrence of cloven-hoofed game.

Wolf tracks in the sand

Project data  
Project leader: Prof. Prof. h. c. Dr. Ursula Siebert
Scientists: Dr. Oliver Keuling, Dr. Friederike Gethöffer, Dipl.-Biol. Reinhild Gräber, TÄ Hannah Schmidt, MSc Lilly Felker
Project erm: 05.2022-04.2025
Sponsoring: Niedersächsisches Ministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz

Project description

The increase of wildlife population densities leads to conflicts of different actors in rural areas. In the future, forests in Lower Saxony will be transformed to cope with changing climatic conditions.  High densities of cloven-hoofed game and especially local large pack formation can be detrimental to such regeneration of forest systems.

In this project, it will be discussed whether and for which reasons large packs are formed in cloven-hoofed game populations in Lower Saxony. For this purpose, the occurrence of wolves in different project areas will also be considered as a possible influencing factor.

In three subprojects:

  • The activity in space and time as well as population densities and abundances of roe deer, red deer and fallow deer will be determined.
  • Analyze the dietary components of wolves on the basis of loosening finds.
  • Trends in the occurrence of cloven-hoofed game and the opinion of hunters in the hunting grounds of Lower Saxony on possible influences will be presented with the help of wildlife surveys.

Wolf in the dark
Photo ITAW
Wolf is crossing a snowy field path
Photo: T. Grüntjens