Rise and fall of a Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ) stepping-stone population in central Germany
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Rise and fall of a Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) stepping-stone population in central Germany Markus Port 1,2 & Antje Henkelmann 1 & Friederike Schröder 1 & Matthias Waltert 1 & Lilli Middelhoff 3 & Ole Anders 3 & Susanne Jokisch 4 Received: 21 December 2019 / Accepted: 10 August 2020 # The Author(s) 2020
Abstract After having been extinct for approximately 200 years, the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is currently being reintroduced in several European countries. However, it still occurs in several local, isolated populations. Given the patchy distribution of its forest habitat within a human-dominated landscape, the formation of population stepping-stones, i.e., small lynx occurrences between source populations, has been suggested an important mechanism for the expansion of lynx in central Europe. We studied the population history of such a stepping-stone population, which emerged approximately 60 km southwest of a larger reintroduced population in central Germany. We also examined migrations of lynx between the source population and the stepping-stone. At the beginning of our study in autumn 2014, our study population consisted of a minimum number of six resident individuals of both sexes that successfully reproduced in the area. However, over the course of only a single year, this subpopulation declined to only a single resident male as a consequence of death and emigration. In the 4 years after this decline, the subpopulation did not recover due to the absence of female dispersal into the area. Our study illustrates the vulnerability of small, isolated populations to stochastic demographic events and suggests that constraints on female dispersal are a major reason for the slow expansion of lynx in central Europe. To promote the expansion of lynx, active population management will be required, involving the translocation of females to reinforce existing stepping-stone populations or to create new ones. Keywords Eurasian lynx . Dispersal . Habitat fragmentation . Connectivity . Stepping-stone . Camera trapping
Introduction The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) was once widely distributed across central Europe, but it became extinct in this area during
Communicated by: Krzysztof Schmidt * Markus Port [email protected] 1
Department of Conservation Biology, University of Göttingen, Bürgerstraße 50, 37075 Göttingen, Germany
2
Department of Behavioral Ecology, University of Göttingen, Kellnerweg 6, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
3
Nationalparkverwaltung Harz, Außenstelle Sankt Andreasberg-Oderhaus, Oderhaus 1, 37444, Sankt Andreasberg, Germany
4
Department of Nature Conservation, Hessian Agency for Nature Conservation, Environment and Geology, Europastraße 10, 35394 Gießen, Germany
the nineteenth century due to habitat loss and human persecution (Breitenmoser and Breitenmoser-Würsten 2008). To bring back one of Europe’s largest carnivores, several European countries have carried out reintroduction programs since the 1970s (Breitenmoser and Breitenmoser-Würsten 2008; Chapron et al. 2014; Linnell et al. 2009; Wölfl et
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