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Measurement of Protein Turnover Rates in Senescent and Non-Dividing Cultured Cells with Metabolic Labeling and Mass Spectrometry

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Predatory senescence in ageing wolves.

Daniel R MacNulty¹, Douglas W Smith, John A Vucetich

¹Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.

Ecology Letters

|September 29, 2009

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Predatory senescence, the decline in hunting ability with age in predators like wolves, impacts prey offtake rates. This age-related decline in predator performance affects predator-prey dynamics, independent of population size.

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Area of Science:

Ecology
Animal Behavior
Wildlife Biology

Background:

Ageing typically impairs prey escape abilities, but its effect on predator hunting success is less understood.
Previous research on long-lived predators assumed consistent hunting performance across adult ages.
The impact of predator age structure on ecological interactions remains largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate how ageing affects the predatory performance of individual wolves (Canis lupus).
To determine if the proportion of older, senescent wolves in a population influences prey offtake rates.
To assess the role of predatory senescence in predator-prey dynamics.

Main Methods:

Utilized longitudinal data from individually identified wolves hunting elk (Cervus elaphus) in Yellowstone National Park.
Analyzed repeated observations of hunting events to track individual predator performance over time.
Correlated the age structure of the wolf population with observed prey offtake rates.

Main Results:

Demonstrated a decline in predatory performance in individual wolves as they aged.
Found that an increasing ratio of senescent wolves in the population led to a reduced rate of prey offtake.
Observed that this age-related effect on prey offtake occurred independently of overall wolf population size.

Conclusions:

Predatory senescence is a significant factor influencing predator-prey dynamics.
Wolf populations of similar size but different age structures can exert different pressures on prey populations.
The age of predators, specifically the prevalence of senescence, is a critical, overlooked variable in ecological models.