Ecological and social drivers of Mexican wolf home range size across spatiotemporal scales

Abstract

Elucidating factors influencing home range size is fundamental to the ecology and management of wildlife species, particularly those of conservation concern, because they can provide insight into how species utilize and interact with their environment. Variation in home range size can be related to intraspecific competition and social organization, energetic requirements in relation to habitat productivity, allometric relationships, and population density. The Mexican Gray Wolf ( Canis lupus baileyi ) is an endangered subspecies of the Gray Wolf whose home range size has not yet been studied. We examined ecological and social drivers of home range size of 22 Mexican Wolf packs between 2017 and 2021 across 4 biological time frames: annual; denning; post-denning; and non-denning. We used a 95% Brownian Bridge Movement Model home range estimator and generalized linear mixed-effect models to assess these relationships. Home range size was inversely correlated with estimated ungulate biomass, which was the most influential driver of home range size at annual and post-denning time frames. Larger packs utilized larger ranges during denning and post-denning time frames, while packs with larger litters had smaller ranges during the denning season. Snow depth was inversely related to home range size during the non-denning season. Our results indicate that both ecological and social factors are important and seasonally dependent in driving Mexican Wolf home range size. Use of a multiscale approach in future home range studies could discern relevant factors for species during time frames of interest.