Climate Change Challenges Grey Wolf Resilience: Insights From Dental Microwear
Amanda A Burtt1, Neil F Adams2,3, Sabina Nowak4
1School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Ecology Letters
|February 11, 2026
Summary
Grey wolves show remarkable resilience, adapting their diets to changing climates over millennia. Future warming may force significant dietary shifts in European grey wolf populations.
Area of Science:
- Paleoecology
- Zoology
- Climate Change Science
Background:
- Grey wolves (Canis lupus) are ecologically resilient mammals with a history of surviving climate fluctuations.
- Human activities have significantly reduced their global range, raising concerns about future persistence despite IUCN's 'Least Concern' status.
- The impact of climate change on wolf populations and their adaptability remains a critical research question.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the dietary flexibility of European grey wolves across different climatic periods.
- To assess the adaptive capacity of grey wolves in response to past and future climate change.
- To utilize dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) to reconstruct wolf diets.
Main Methods:
- Dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA) was employed to examine dietary habits.
- Fossilized teeth from British Pleistocene grey wolves (Last Interglacial - MIS 5e, Penultimate Interglacial - MIS 7a-c) were analyzed.
- Teeth from contemporary Polish grey wolves were compared with ancient samples.
Main Results:
- Analysis revealed evidence of increased durophagy (bone-eating) in grey wolves during past periods of elevated global temperatures.
- These findings demonstrate significant dietary plasticity and recurrent behavioral shifts in grey wolf populations over deep time.
- A correlation was observed between warmer interglacial periods and a shift towards more durophagous diets.
Conclusions:
- The grey wolf exhibits deep-time dietary plasticity, indicating resilience to environmental changes.
- While resilient, future warming trends, particularly warmer winters, may necessitate significant adaptations in the diets of mid-latitude grey wolf populations.
- Understanding past dietary shifts provides insights into the potential responses of grey wolves to ongoing climate change.
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