# Climate Change Challenges Grey Wolf Resilience: Insights From Dental Microwear

## TL;DR

This study uses dental microwear to show that grey wolves have flexible diets during warm periods, suggesting climate change could reshape their feeding habits.

## Contribution

The study provides new evidence of grey wolf dietary plasticity in response to past climate changes using dental microwear analysis.

## Key findings

- Wolves show increased durophagy during warm climatic periods.
- Dietary flexibility has been consistent across deep time and modern populations.
- Future warming winters may significantly alter wolf diets in mid-latitude ecosystems.

## Abstract

The grey wolf exemplifies ecological resilience, having survived major climatic fluctuations since the Middle Pleistocene. Once the world's most widely distributed mammal, its range has been drastically reduced by human‐driven habitat loss, persecution and competition for resources. Although listed as of Least Concern globally by the IUCN, the omission of climate change as a threat raises critical questions about its future persistence. This study examines dietary flexibility in European grey wolves (
Canis lupus
) using dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA). We compare British Pleistocene wolves from the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e) and the penultimate interglacial (MIS 7a–c) and contemporary wolves from Poland. Results suggest that during periods of elevated global temperatures, wolves exhibit evidence of increased durophagy. These data demonstrate deep‐time dietary plasticity and recurrent behavioural shifts, indicating that while the grey wolf is resilient, future warming winters may significantly reshape wolf diets in the mid‐latitude ecosystems.

We investigate dietary plasticity in European grey wolves across interglacial periods using dental microwear texture analysis. Enhanced durophagy is associated with warm climates in both modern Polish and British Pleistocene wolves, indicating deep‐time behavioural flexibility. These results suggest that future winter warming may significantly reshape wolf diets despite the species' long‐term resilience.