Human harvest of wildlife was a key regulator of abundance and ecosystem services within the coastal rainforest social-ecological system wolf abundance was most affected by wolf harvest regulations and deer harvest restrictions increased wolf and deer abundances, but also greatly increased browsing impacts (>70% of areas heavily browsed if hunting ceased). Low wolf abundance resulted in higher deer abundance, which increased hunting opportunity, but also browsing damages (e.g., 19% of areas would be over-browsed if wolf harvest caps are removed, and >30% of areas would be over-browsed if wolves go extinct). We found that wolf populations generally persisted over 30 years, but dropped below an effective population size of 50 wolves in 10–98% of years simulated.

Further, we considered how changes in deer abundance impact predation services (prevention of over-browsing by deer). Here, we updated a model we constructed for the last ESA listing process (2015) to examine the dynamics of wolf and deer populations on Prince of Wales Island (the primary geographic focus of all three petitions) in response to future environmental and management scenarios developed with stakeholders. If local wolf populations go extinct, it will result in loss of their ecosystem services (e.g., interactions of wolves with their prey, which prevents over-browsing and protects carbon sequestration in soils and trees), which will likely have major consequences for the local social-ecological system. However, the underlying biogeography and ecology of these wolves continues to suggest resiliency across the subspecies’ range, even though local populations may go extinct.

Concerns included habitat alteration from industrial timber harvest and subsequent declines in prey (deer), human-caused mortality, climate change, and genetic inbreeding. Endangered Species Act (ESA) for the third time in 30 years. In 2020, the Alexander Archipelago (AA) wolf was petitioned for protection under the U.S. 6Department of Soil and Water Systems, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, United StatesĬarnivores across much of the world are declining, leading to loss of biodiversity as well as the ecosystem services carnivores provide.5Department of Fish and Wildlife Biology, University of Montana, Missoula, MT, United States.4The Nature Conservancy, Juneau, AK, United States.3Institute of Arctic Biology and Department of Biology and Wildlife, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, United States.1Department of Fish and Wildlife Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, ID, United States.

Albert 4, Michelle Kissling 5, Laurel Lynch 6 and Dave Person 7

Trees shrubs and conifers wolf express