Wolf and Coyote researchers John Benson, Brent Patterson and P.J. Mahoney recently published a fine and informative paper on how large protected parklands can act as reservoirs for protecting Eastern Wolves from losing their genetic identity through hybridizing with Coyotes................Worth your read!

Benson, J., B.R. Patterson, and P.J. Mahoney. 2014. A protected area influences genotype-specific survival and the structure of a Canishybrid zone. Ecology 95(2): 254-264. [PDF]

click on pdf (above right) to read full article

A protected area influences genotype-specific survival
and the structure of a Canis hybrid zone
JOHN F. BENSON,
1,4 BRENT R. PATTERSON,
1,2 AND PETER J. MAHONEY3
1
Environmental and Life Sciences Graduate Program, Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8 Canada 2
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Wildlife Research and Development Section, Peterborough, Ontario K9J 7B8 Canada 3
Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, Logan, Utah 84322 USA

Abstract.--- It is widely recognized that protected areas can strongly influence ecologicalsystems and that hybridization is an important conservation issue.

 However, previous studies have not explicitly considered the influence of protected areas on hybridization dynamics.
Eastern wolves are a species of special concern and their distribution is largely restricted to a protected population in Algonquin Provincial Park (APP), Ontario, Canada, where they are
the numerically dominant canid.

 We studied intrinsic and extrinsic factors influencing survival
and cause-specific mortality of hybrid and parental canids in the three-species hybrid zonebetween eastern wolves, eastern coyotes, and gray wolves in and adjacent to APP. 

Mortalityrisk for eastern wolves in areas adjacent to APP was significantly higher than for othersympatric Canis types outside of APP, and for eastern wolves and other canids within APP.
Outside of APP, the annual mortality rate of all canids by harvest (24%) was higher than forother causes of death (4–7%). Furthermore, eastern wolves (hazard ratio ¼ 3.5) and
nonresidents (transients and dispersing animals, hazard ratio ¼ 2.7) were more likely to diefrom harvest relative to other Canis types and residents, respectively. 

Thus, eastern wolvesdispersing from APP were especially vulnerable to harvest mortality. For residents, eastern
wolf survival was more negatively influenced by increased road density than for other Canistypes, further highlighting the sensitivity of eastern wolves to human disturbance. A cycle of
dispersal from APP followed by high rates of mortality and hybridization appears to maintaineastern wolves at low density adjacent to APP, limiting the potential for expansion beyond the
protected area.

 However, high survival and numerical dominance of eastern wolves within APP suggest that protected areas can allow rare hybridizing species to persist even if their demographic performance is compromised and barriers to hybridization are largely absent in the adjacent matrix.


EASTERN WOLF INSIDE ALGONQUIN PROVINCIAL PARK

EASTERN COYOTE(10 TO 15% EASTERN WOLF GENES)
FOUND SOUTH AND EAST OF ALGONQUIN PARK

GRAY WOLF FOUND NORTH AND WEST OF ALGONQUIN PARK