Rapid expansion of the golden jackal in Greece: research, management and conservation priorities

Abstract

A rapid and extensive range expansion of the golden jackal has recently been documented in continental Europe, raising new policy and legal questions and creating an urgent need to understand the mechanisms underlying this distribution change. Because of human persecution, the jackal population in Greece went through a serious bottleneck and is therefore now listed as endangered. We used data from field work and publicly accessible sources as well as general linear models to assess the evolution of jackal presence and to identify important variables that could predict occupancy probability and potential expansion, and priority conservation and management areas for the species in Greece. Our results indicate a rapid expansion of approximately 320% of the golden jackal range in Greece in less than 5 jackal generations. Distance to their previous distribution range and the presence of wolves had a negative effect, while percentage of wetlands, arable land and permanent crops had a positive effect in predicting the probability of jackal occupancy in Greece. Potential areas of expansion were identified mainly in the western and central parts of the Greek mainland and the island of Euboea. Only 22.6% of the potential priority conservation areas for the jackal in Greece are currently under legal protection, and of these, 23.8% are suitable for targeted management actions. Based on these results we define concrete research, conservation and management priorities for golden jackals in Greece.