Reconstruction of the extinct Ezo wolf’s diet.
Reconstruction of the extinct Ezo wolf’s diet.
复制标题
重建已灭绝的虾夷狼的饮食。
作者：
Matsubayashi;J.;Ohta;T.;Takahashi;O. and Tayasu;I.
在日本的北海道，由于人类活动，顶级捕食者Ezo Canis lupus hattai于世纪末灭绝。顶级掠食者通常在其生态系统中扮演重要角色，但我们没有关于埃佐狼饮食习惯的科学信息。我们对狼（n=7）及其猎物物种的标本进行了碳和氮稳定同位素分析和放射性碳测年，并使用同位素混合模型估计了狼的饮食成分。放射性碳年代测定表明，大多数被检查的狼来自不同的种群或世代。狼的平均稳定同位素比率为δ 13 C为−19.5 ‰（±1.9 ‰标准差），δ 15 N为8.7 ‰（±2.6 ‰标准差）。7只狼中有5只狼的鉴别校正同位素比值与同一地点的西卡鹿几乎相同。相比之下，两只狼的同位素值明显高于鹿，这表明这些狼部分依赖于海洋猎物，如鲑鱼和海洋哺乳动物。因此，埃佐狼与加拿大灰狼有着相似的生态角色，是除不列颠哥伦比亚省的“海岸狼”外，第二个以海洋食物为食的亚种。
On Hokkaido, Japan, the Ezo wolfCanis lupus hattai, an apex predator, became extinct at the end of the 19th century owing to human activities. Top predators often have an important role in their ecosystems, yet we have no scientific information on the feeding habits of the Ezo wolf. We performed carbon and nitrogen stable isotope analysis and radiocarbon dating of specimens of the wolf (n=7) and its prey species and estimated the components of the wolves’ diet using an isotope mixing model. Radiocarbon dating suggested that most of the wolves examined came from different populations or generations. The mean stable isotope ratios of the wolves were −19.5 ‰ (±1.9 ‰sd) forδ13C and 8.7 ‰ (±2.6 ‰sd) forδ15N. The discrimination‐corrected isotopic ratios of five of the seven wolves were almost the same as those of Sika deer at the same sites. In contrast, those of two wolves had clearly higher isotopic values than those of deer, suggesting that these wolves depended partly on marine prey such as salmon and marine mammals. Thus, Ezo wolves had similar ecological roles to Canadian grey wolves, and were a second subspecies shown to have fed on a marine diet, in addition to the ‘coastal wolves’ of British Columbia.