Rapid response: dietary shifts by grey wolves in response to palaeoclimatic variations during the last glaciation

Following the Last Interglacial (∼125 ka), Britain experienced a series of pronounced climatic fluctuations that drove major shifts in environmental conditions and habitat structure during the last glaciation. Despite broader faunal turnover, grey wolves (Canis lupus L., 1758) persisted throughout these changing landscapes, reflecting considerable ecological resilience.
This study examines the dietary behaviour of last glaciation wolves in Britain, using dental microwear texture analysis (DMTA). Variation in microwear textures is used to evaluate differences in feeding behaviour across distinct climatic intervals, including the Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5a interstadial, the climatic complexity of the middle part of the last glaciation (Devensian/Weichselian, MIS 3) and the Last Glacial Maximum (late Devensian, MIS 2). As diet is a fundamental component of ecological adaptation, dental microwear texture parameters offer direct insight into feeding strategies and carcass processing intensity in fossil carnivores.
Results indicate that dental microwear texture patterns vary systematically with climatic context. Wolves from the coldest phase of the last glaciation (MIS 2) exhibit surface textures distinct from those of the interstadial periods, consistent with reduced durophagous behaviour. In contrast, wolves from MIS 3 and MIS 5a display higher surface complexity, with MIS 3 showing the broadest range of texture values and thus the greatest variability among the intervals examined. These findings are interpreted in relation to potential driving factors, including palaeoclimatic conditions, prey availability, and the presence of competing carnivores. Integrating dental microwear and palaeoenvironmental evidence provides new insights into how this keystone species responded to climatic variability during the Late Pleistocene.