The Swedish wolverine project – ecology and conservation

Update from the field – summer/autumn 2010

In order to continue collecting information about predation on reindeer and interactions between wolverines and lynx, we conducted intensive monitoring of lynx and wolverines with GPS-collars in summer 2010. We programmed the GPS-collars to obtain a location every 30 minutes (48 locations/day) during six weeks, from late July to September. Hence, we got very detailed information about the movements of the animals. We use this data to identify so called clusters (concentration of locations from an animal) in a GIS-program on the computer. When this was done, we went out in the field to investigate the clusters on the ground. We did so two times, halfway and in the end of the study period.

During this fieldwork, we investigated in total about 110 clusters on the ground. We found carcasses from different prey species at 21 sites. The majority were reindeer and most of them were lynx-killed. We also found remains of moose, hare, grouse and lemming. In addition we visited many bed sites from both lynx and wolverines.

The results from this study period added to the previous preliminary results, showing that wolverines to a large extent use reindeer that have been killed by lynx, and that lynx regularly kill reindeer during summer. We also documented more cases where wolverines used moose carcasses. It was also exciting to see that the numbers of lemming and voles had increased over the summer. During the fieldwork we saw small rodents and signs of their activity everywhere. Interestingly, some clusters from wolverine females were on places where we could not determine the cause of the activity, but circumstantial evidence suggested that they were places where the wolverines were hunting for lemmings.

Finally, you are welcome to visit our project’s new website at www.wolverineproject.se