Tuesday 6 January 2009

First wolf article - Umwelt mapping

My article "The Phenomenal Fields of Wolves on the Scandinavian Peninsula during Their Recovery" has been finished and submitted to Journal of Comparative Psychology, edited by Gordon M. Burghardt.

ABSTRACT
This study makes use of a typology of four phenomenal fields, with roots in the work of Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944), in a systematic assessment of modern wolf ecology on the Scandinavian Peninsula, with emphasis on the wolves’ private experience. It shows that the wolves on the Scandinavian Peninsula are shy animals which demonstrate clear preferences for forest-covered environments and a diet dominated by moose (Alces alces). The findings of this study suggest that wildlife management policy should be developed with a short-term as well as a long-term perspective. While recovery is the logical conservation goal in the short term, when a variant of human-dependent viability is in many cases all that is achievable, to restore independent viability should be the long-term goal for wildlife management.

KEYWORDS
Gray wolf Canis lupus, wolf ecology, wildlife management, Umwelt

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