Long-distance Eurasian lynx dispersal – a prospect for connecting native and reintroduced populations in Central Europe

Abstract

Dispersal is a key process for the maintenance of intraspecific genetic diversity by ensuring gene flow within and between populations. Despite the ongoing expansion of large carnivores in Europe, lynx populations remain fragmented, isolated, and threatened by inbreeding and loss of genetic diversity. In the course of large carnivore monitoring in the Czech Republic, several biological samples of Eurasian lynx were collected outside the permanent occurrence of this species. Using microsatellite genotyping we identified these as four dispersing lynx males and applied multiple methods (Bayesian clustering in STRU CTU RE, Principal Component Analysis (PCA), frequency-based method in GENECLASS2, and machine-learning framework in assignPOP) to assign them to possible source populations. For this we used genotypes from five European lynx populations: the Bohemian-Bavarian-Austrian (N = 36), Carpathian (N = 43), Scandinavian (N = 20), Baltic (N = 15), and Harz (N = 23) population. All four dispersers were successfully assigned to different source populations within Europe and each was recorded at a distance of more than 98 km from the edge of the distribution of the source population identified. Such movements are among the longest described for lynx in Central Europe to this point. The findings indicate the ability of lynx males to disperse in human-dominated landscape thus facilitation of these movements via creation and/or protection of potential migratory corridors together with protection of dispersing individuals should be of high importance in conservation of this iconic predator in Central Europe.

Diverging ecological traits between the Balkan lynx and neighbouring populations as a basis for planning its genetic rescue

“…Another option is connection between the Balkan and Carpathian population via Serbia. So far, no natural dispersal among these populations has been recorded, but the distances among the current edges of these populations are within the reported dispersal ability of this species (Gajdárová et al 2021) and therefore we recommend further monitoring for potential dispersers.…”

Invasive brown widow spiders disperse aerially under a broad range of environmental conditions

“…For example, in mygalomorph spiders, aerial dispersal ability is correlated with larger range size (Buzatto et al, 2021), which suggests that dispersal is an important process in range expansion. In combination with behavioural studies, genetic markers can help to determine the degree of connectivity between invasive populations and the consequences of dispersal capacity on invasive spread (Gajdárová et al, 2021; Mignotte et al, 2021). Understanding which factors promote dispersal of this species can help predict and manage the species' invasive spread.…”

Ex situ versus in situ Eurasian lynx populations: implications for successful breeding and genetic rescue

“…A multiple assignment approach was used to detect genetic sub-structuring in Eurasian lynx and to identify lineages and population origin of captive individuals (Gajdárová et al 2021). Factorial correspondence analysis (FCA) was performed in GENETIX v.4.05.2 (Belkhir et al 1996(Belkhir et al -2004 and the relationships between individual multi-locus genotypes were visualized in 2D-space.…”

“…Some signs of inbreeding depression have been discussed in the Alpine (Ryser-Degiorgis et al 2004) and the Dinaric population (Skrbinšek et al 2019). Natural or human mediated connectivity among reintroduced populations or genetic rescue in the form of translocation of new individuals is the one way to save and to ensure long-term sustainability of these re-established populations (Sindičić et al 2013;Bull et al 2016;Gajdárová et al 2021;Mueller et al 2022).…”