Predator-Prey Problems in Nature Reserves of the European Part of the RSFSR

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Abstract
Relationships between large predators and their prey play an important part in maintaining the stability and diversity of ecological systems of nature reserves. Data obtained in 9 nature reserves in the European part of the RSFSR for the past 25-30 yr permitted analysis of relations between ungulates (moose [Alces alces], roe deer [Capreolus capreolus], red deer [Cervus elaphus], sika deer [C. nippon], and reindeer [Rangifer tarandus]) and predators (wolf [Canis lupus], brown bear [Ursus arctos], lynx [Lynx lynx], wolverine [Gulo gulo] and stray or feral dogs). The intensity of predation by carnivore species, depending upon their numbers, fluctuated by 5-25 times, and the total natural mortality rate of prey, by 1.5 or 2 times. A rather stable mortality rate in ungulates was maintained by a system of compensating mechanisms. The functional substitution of mortality factors suggests that the weakening of one of the factors brings about the strengthening of another. Extirpation of large predators from nature reserves is not beneficial and therefore is not expedient.

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