The conservation of large carnivores is a formidable challenge for biodiversity conservation. Using a data set on the past and current status of brown bears (Ursus arctos), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), gray wolves (Canis lupus), and wolverines (Gulo gulo) in European countries, we show that roughly one-third of mainland Europe hosts at least one large carnivore species, with stable or increasing abundance in most cases in 21st-century records. The reasons for this overall conservation success include protective legislation, supportive public opinion, and a variety of practices making coexistence between large carnivores and people possible. The European situation reveals that large carnivores and people can share the same landscape.
Camera-trapping and capture-recapture models are the most widely used tools for estimating densities of wild felids that have unique coat patterns, such as Eurasian lynx. However, studies dealing with this species are predominantly on a short-term basis and our knowledge of temporal trends and population persistence is still scarce. By using systematic camera-trapping and spatial capture-recapture models, we estimated lynx densities and evaluated density fluctuations, apparent survival, transition rate and individual's turnover during five consecutive seasons at three different sites situated in the Czech–Slovak–Polish borderland at the periphery of the Western Carpathians. Our density estimates vary between 0.26 and 1.85 lynx/100 km2 suitable habitat and represent the lowest and the highest lynx densities reported from the Carpathians. We recorded 1.5–4.1-fold changes in asynchronous fluctuated densities among all study sites and seasons. Furthermore, we detected high individual’s turnover (on average 46.3 ± 8.06% in all independent lynx and 37.6 ± 4.22% in adults) as well as low persistence of adults (only 3 out of 29 individuals detected in all seasons). The overall apparent survival rate was 0.63 ± 0.055 and overall transition rate between sites was 0.03 ± 0.019. Transition rate of males was significantly higher than in females, suggesting male-biased dispersal and female philopatry. Fluctuating densities and high turnover rates, in combination with documented lynx mortality, indicate that the population in our region faces several human-induced mortalities, such as poaching or lynx-vehicle collisions. These factors might restrict population growth and limit the dispersion of lynx to other subsequent areas, thus undermining the favourable conservation status of the Carpathian population. Moreover, our study demonstrates that long-term camera-trapping surveys are needed for evaluation of population trends and for reliable estimates of demographic parameters of wild territorial felids, and can be further used for establishing successful management and conservation measures.
The conservation and management of wolves Canis lupus in the periphery of their distribution is challenging. Edges of wolf distribution are characterized by very few and intermittent occurrences of individuals, which are modulated by multiple factors affecting the overall population such as human-caused mortality, management targets and food availability. The knowledge of population dynamics in the edges becomes crucial when hunting takes place nearby the edges, which may preclude population expansion. Here, using as example the occurrence of wolves in the Beskydy Mountains (Czech-Slovak border), which are the edge distribution of the wolf and Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx populations in the West Carpathians, we explored how food availability and hunting in the Slovakian core area affected the dynamics of wolves in the edges of this population. During 2003–2012, we monitored large carnivore occurrence by snow-tracking surveys and tested potential differences in the occurrence of these species in Beskydy Mountains and potential mechanisms behind detected patterns. Despite the proximity to the core area, with several wolf reproductions being confirmed at least in recent years, the wolf was a very rare species in Beskydy and was recorded 14 times less often than the lynx. The expected abundance of wolves in the Beskydy Mountains was inversely related to prey availability in the Slovakian core area. Wolf hunting the year before influenced the expected abundance of wolves in Beskydy area. We discuss how different life histories and legal status of both species probably account for most of the observed difference of occurrence at range margins.
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