Changes of wolf (Canis lupus) diet in Italy in relation to the increase of wild ungulate abundance

We reviewed 20 studies on wolf diet in Italy, to relate the changes in diet composition to the increase of wild ungulate population in Italy. Researches covered the period from 1976 to 2004 and the whole range of wolves from southern Apennines to western Alps. We used the frequency of occurrence of seven food categories and of the wild ungulate species occurring in the diet. Estimates of wild ungulate populations were obtained from the literature and we extrapolated their trend in the period considered. Differences among geographic areas (south-central Apennines, northern Apennines, and western Alps) were tested by nonparametric multivariate analysis of variance, while the trends of the wild ungulate and livestock use and of diet breadth were analysed by regression and curve-fit analyses. We used the same method to support the relationships between the use and availability of wild ungulates. Wolves preyed on wild herbivores more in the northern Apennines and in the western Alps than in the southern Apennines; the contrary was the case for livestock. Among wild ungulate species, wild boar, roe deer and red deer were the main prey of the wolf. The occurrence of wild ungulates in the wolf diet increased from 1976 to 2004 together with a decrease of livestock; the increase was mainly due to roe deer, red deer and chamois. The results of scat analysis in the province of Genoa showed an increase of the occurrence of wild ungulates from 1987 to 2005, in particular roe deer and fallow deer. Wolves in Italy seem to select wild ungulates over domestic ones where the former are available with rich and diversified guilds and abundant populations © 2011 Dipartimento di Biologia Evoluzionistica dell?Università, Firenze, Italia.