Thread by @IrelandsEnviro

Thursday's topic: Wolves (and lynx) in Europe.

Terrors of the forest? Or necessary keystone species?

As with everything in ecology, nothing is simple! Today I (@AdamFSmith) will look at some myths, science, and interesting facts about these species. Claws out, let's go! 🐺

1/n

Firstly, this is my immediate research area. Over the last 3 years I have been involved in numerous studies involving wolves and lynx, however the "speed of science" means few are published right now!

It is extremely complex, so over Twitter you'll have to bare with me!

2/n

Europe's legal protection and softening public opinion has successfully seen population and range rebounds for these species.

Both are listed as protected under the EU Habitat's Directive and cannot be hunted in EU countries! 🇪🇺

BUT...

3/n

...neither species are untouchable! That's a myth. Preventing livestock kills or animals that pose a danger to humans are permitted to be killed.

Most countries respect this, and it has allowed conflicts to be dealt with.

However, there may be a change in the wind...

4/n

Management is complicated, as wolf and lynx territories can be large (sometimes 100km2+).

Sweden is probably playing with fire with their wolf and lynx culls. If they're brought to court and win, it might set a precedent for hunting them.

5/n

theguardian.com/environment/20…

Despite the tens of thousands of wolves in Europe, they actual do relatively little damage. We know how to minimise risk if cooperation works!

This is especially compared to their benefits they bring such as creating carrion when they kill deer or boar or even foxes.

6/n

Through these effects, do large carnivores cause trophic cascades?

In Yellowstone 🇺🇸, reintroduced wolves were originally over-credited (dx.doi.org/10.1890/04-1269), which still creates hype despite evidence that the effects are more subtle and context dependent.

7/n

Yellowstone National Park is bigger than all German national parks combined, protected areas in Europe are too small to be compared.

Also, Europe has much more wolves than the contiguous United States, on a smaller area, with millions more people!

8/n

iucnredlist.org/fr/species/374…

We are dealing with a much different system, yet wolves can still have some effects (doi.org/10.1111/j.1600…), but humans are probably the driving force behind almost all mammal behaviours in Europe.

That isn't to diminish their importance as parts of our ecosystems!

9/n

Some secondary points around large carnivores being dangerous (I won't speak for bears here).

Wolves and lynx are exceptionally avoidant of people. They are smart and conscious creatures, and we see this through the tiny amount of negative interactions that occur.

10/n

Attacks by wolves are exceptionally rare. Not zero, but statistically speaking they are zero equivalent (wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-w…).

The relative risk of basically everything else in a normal human life far outweighs the risks to people of wolves or lynx. Don't be afraid!

11/n

In many ways, their strong avoidance of humans, preference for areas of low disturbance makes them good candidates for coexistence, despite the hysteria sometimes created.

Generally, it is livestock depredation that causes the problems.

12/n

I also released this paper last year, on how wolves in Belarus prefer core areas of the national park where they had their territories. They kept away from roads and settlements, especially during the day:

https://twitter.com/AdamFSmith/status/1598702128914046977?s=20

13/n

Wolves have also NATURALLY recolonised every single EU member state where they were once native, except Ireland.

In the whole of Europe, only Ireland and UK are missing wolves now. Lynx aren't far behind them, either (although some were reintroduced).

14/n

This sparks a lot of discussion in Ireland and the UK about reintroduction projects.

However, both Ireland and the UK are plagued by a number of heated debates on land and wildlife management that I find more and more embarrassing from a European perspective.

15/n

Ireland in particular, has problems surrounding environmental management and monitoring in general, and both have huge problems with nature protection (protected areas, national parks which technically don't reach national park standards).

https://twitter.com/IrelandsEnviro/status/1663643472056795140?s=20

16/n

Ireland also has a livestock-heavy agricultural sector. The force of their lobby group is huge, and if livestock are untouchable, I suspect reintroduction will be near impossible.

You can see these lobbyists in action with the fear around the NRL:

https://twitter.com/BirdLifeEurope/status/1664207825768263680?s=20

17/n

This also connects with other "fear-mongering" elements in society, as has been seen in the Netherlands where production-focused ag interests and the far-right have lined up, a sure disaster for nature conservation.

18/n

nbcnews.com/news/world/dut…

And the correlation back to wolves might be this: "As populists appear to exploit such (economic fear) sentiments, the wolf’s reemergence is a plausible source for far-right voting behavior."

It wont be a boring few years in conservation!

19/n

pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…

So now we stand at a cross roads for #wolves and #lynx in Europe, where policy and politics could reverse previous gains.

The science can tell us a lot, so much in fact, but that isn't how the world works!

What about #conservation?

Yep, that's politics too - GET INVOLVED! 🤠