Wolf cranial morphology tracks population replacement in Fennoscandia

TL;DR

The study shows that wolf skull shapes in Scandinavia and Finland have changed over time, likely due to genetic and environmental factors.

Contribution

The paper provides evidence of morphological changes in wolf cranial morphology linked to population replacement and environmental changes.

Findings

Modern wolves in Scandinavia and Finland have crania with wider frontal bones and zygomatic arches compared to historical populations.

Scandinavian wolves show a significant increase in overall cranial size compared to historical populations.

Morphological changes are likely influenced by genetic origins and shifts in prey availability.

Abstract

Humans have directly or indirectly contributed to the genetic and thus often phenotypic changes of many species. Anthropogenic pressures, such as persecution and hunting, have negatively affected wolf populations in northern Europe. In line with the genetic replacement that occurred during the twentieth century following the extirpation of wolves from Scandinavia (Norway and Sweden) and their near-extirpation from Finland, we provide evidence of morphological changes in wolf cranial morphology across these populations. Using three-dimensional landmark-based geometric morphometrics, we show that modern wolves in Scandinavia and Finland have, on average, crania with wider frontal bones, wider and higher positioned zygomatic arches and more ventral flexion of the rostrum compared to the historical wolf populations. Although both populations differ in the magnitude and direction of shape change over time, the centroid size or overall size of the cranium, is significantly larger only in the modern Scandinavian wolves. Different genetic origins of the historical and modern populations have probably played a role in the observed morphological variation; however, it is also likely that morphology has been affected by the availability of different prey, which has changed over time.

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