Data collected from 2000 to 2010 on a predator–prey system in eastern Tuscany (central Italy) were used to investigate the relative impact of human harvest and natural predation by wolves (Canis lupus ) on the local populations of their main prey: wild boar (Sus scrofa ) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus ). We estimated the percent composition of wolf diet from scat analysis (n  = 2,150) and converted it into ingested biomass and number of killed individuals by quantifying the energy requirement of the resident wolf pack based on the field metabolic rate formula. Moreover, we collected data on hunting bags, and investigating the age/weight class preferences of both wolves and hunters compared their impacts on the two ungulate populations. In both prey species, losses due to hunting resulted to be eight to nine times higher than those due to wolf predation. In terms of number of individuals removed per year, the wild boar was the main prey species for wolves (mean ± SD : 83 ± 23) and the most harvested by hunters (mean ± SD : 609 ± 241). Wolves targeted the intermediate weight class (10–35 kg) in wild boar and showed no preference for a specific class of roe deer, while hunters targeted the largest classes in both species. The combined removal by hunters and wolf predation did not exceed the recruitment of both ungulate populations. We can therefore argue that a top‐down force is unlikely to contrast the population growth of the two ungulate species in Central Italy.

中文翻译：

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人类收获和狼捕食对意大利中部两个有蹄类动物的相对影响

从2000年收集的数据，以2010年托斯卡纳（意大利中部）东部捕食系统上被用来研究狼活摘和自然捕食的相对影响（狼对自己的主要猎物的当地居民）：野猪（（Sus scrofa）和ro（Capreolus capreolus）。我们从粪便分析中估计了狼饮食的百分比组成（n = 2,150），并根据田间代谢率公式，通过量化常驻狼群的能量需求，将其转化为摄入的生物量和被杀死的人数。此外，我们收集了有关狩猎袋的数据，并调查了狼和猎人的年龄/体重类别偏好，比较了它们对两个有蹄类动物种群的影响。在这两种猎物中，狩猎造成的损失比狼捕食造成的损失高八到九倍。就每年被移走的个体数量而言，野猪是狼的主要猎物种类（平均± SD：83±23），是猎人收获最多的（平均± SD）：609±241）。狼以野猪的中等体重类别（10-35公斤）为目标，对特定类别的e没有偏好，而猎人则以这两个物种中最大的类别为目标。猎人和狼的捕食相结合的清除不超过两个有蹄类动物种群的招募。因此，我们可以说，自上而下的力量不太可能与意大利中部两个有蹄类动物的种群增长形成对比。