DOI: 10.5061/dryad.vq83bk427
title: Data for: Wolf diet in the Notecka Forest, Western Poland

description: We assessed the diet composition of wolves inhabiting Notecka Forest (ca.
 1,400 km2) in Western Poland based on the analysis of scats (n=261)
 collected in 2008-2021. The study revealed that wolves in this large
 forest tract, consisting mainly of pine monocultures, consumed primarily
 wild ungulates (95.2% of consumed biomass). The roe deer was the essential
 food item (47.8%), followed by the red deer (Cervus elaphus) (25.1%) and
 the wild boar (Sus scrofa) (18.4%). Wolves supplemented their diet with
 medium-sized wild mammals, mainly the European hare (Lepus europaeus)
 (2.8%) and the Eurasian beaver (Castor fiber) (1.9%). The food niche was
 narrow (B=1.1), and there was no difference in food composition between
 the spring-summer and autumn-winter seasons. We emphasize the significance
 of the smallest European wild ruminant, roe deer, in the diet of wolves
 inhabiting Central European Plains.
description: We estimated the composition of the wolf diet by analyzing the
 content of their scats (n=261) collected opportunistically across the
 entire Notecka Forest, Poland, from 2008 to 2021. Fieldwork was performed
 within long-term projects dedicated to the assessment of population
 dynamics (Nowak and Mysłajek 2016), habitat selection (Nowak et al. 2017),
 and genetics (Hulva et al. 2018, Szewczyk et al. 2019, Kloch et al. 2021)
 of wolves recovering in Western Poland. The gathering of samples over many
 years allows us to take into account long-term fluctuations of wild
 ungulate numbers. Scats were collected while walking or driving along
 forest roads, and special attention was paid to junctions of roads often
 used by wolves for marking territory (Stępniak et al. 2020). Such an
 approach gives the same results as the analyses of scats collected at home
 sites or at clusters of telemetry locations (Gable et al. 2017). Scats
 were identified based on size, shape, and location near wolf tracks and
 ground scratchings (Jędrzejewski and Sidorovich 2010). Along with studies
 on the diet composition, the authors also conducted studies on wolf
 genetics, thus from fresh scats, non-invasive genetic samples were taken
 and subsequently analysed using a fragment of mitochondrial DNA and a set
 of autosomal microsatellite markers to ensure proper identification of the
 species – see Hulva et al. (2018), Szewczyk et al. (2019) and Kloch et al.
 (2021) for further details. Collected scats were placed in paper envelopes
 and dried in a laboratory drier at 70°C for five days to kill parasites
 often recorded in feces (Popiołek et al. 2007). Subsequently, scats were
 soaked and washed on the dense sieve. The remaining elements – hair,
 fragments of bones, teeth, hooves, etc. – were used to recognize food
 items eaten by wolves. Prey species were identified using hair (Debrot et
 al. 1982, Teerink 1991, De Marinis and Asprea 2006) and skull (Pucek,
 1984) identification keys and reference material.
description: # Data for: Wolf diet in the Notecka Forest, Western Poland
 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vq83bk427](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.vq83bk427) ## Description of the data and file structure **Data_Notecka_Forest_wolf_diet.txt**. Results of the analysis of wolf scats found in the Notecka Forest in 2020. This is a TAB-separated file with the following columns: (1) Region - name of the forest tract; (2) Year - a year when the sample was collected; (3) Month- a month when the sample was collected; (4) mass_(g) - dry mass (in grams) of the scat content after washing; and in the following columns with names of food items (fallow_deer, wild_boar, red_deer, roe_deer, Cervide_indet, birds, badger, beaver, small_rodents, hare, dog, plant_matter) is a dry mass of the scat content which refers to identified food items. Name of food items refers to: fallow deer (Cervus nippon), wild boar (Sus scrofa), red deer (Cervus elaphus), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), Cervide indet. (cervids not identified to species level), birds (Aves), badger (Meles meles), beaver (Castor fiber), small rodents (small rodents, &lt;50g, not identified to species), hare (Lepus europaeus), dog (Canis lupus familiaris), plant matter (plant remains). \+ contribution to diet &lt; 0.05%.