Spatial and Social stability of a Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx population: an assessment of 10 years of observation in the Jura Mountains

Breitenmoser‐Würsten, Christine; Zimmermann, Fridolin; Stahl, P.; Vandel, Jean‐Michel; Molinari-Jobin, Anja; Molinari, Paolo; Capt, Simon; Breitenmoser, Urs

doi:10.2981/0909-6396(2007)13[365:sassoa]2.0.co;2

Cited by 42 publications

(65 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…The observed lack of change in male leopard home range size might indicate that the male segment has not yet reached a threshold of inverse density‐dependence. This could highlight possible lag in resilience of spatial patterns, as documented in a Eurasian lynx population, where social organization pattern returned to the pre‐disturbance after a delay of 3 years (Breitenmoser‐Würsten et al ., ). These various responses to disturbance and changes in population density by solitary felids suggests complexity of resilience mechanisms, and caution should be exercised in extrapolating results across species, and even across populations of the same species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Population recovery highlights spatial organization dynamics in adult leopards

et al. 2016

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Polygynous species follow sex-specific spacing patterns to maximize reproductive success, and changes in population density under otherwise stable environmental conditions likely provoke sex-specific responses in spacing patterns. A classical dual reproductive strategy hypothesis posits that female home range size and overlap are set by habitat productivity and remain stable under increasing population density, whereas male home range size and overlap decrease with increased mate competition. An alternative dispersal-regulated strategy predicts that females relinquish part of their home range to philopatric daughters and form matrilineal clusters, while adult male spacing is stable with density-dependent subadult male emigration rates. We used 11 years of telemetry data to assess the response of adult leopard Panthera pardus spacing following the release of harvest pressure. Female annual home ranges and core areas were smaller than in males. Intersexual overlap was larger than intra-sexual overlap in males or in females. As leopard density increased, female home range size and inter-annual fidelity in home range use decreased, and females formed matrilineal kin clusters. In contrast, male leopards maintained large home ranges, and did not track female home range contraction. Spacing dynamics in adult leopards was consistent with dispersal-regulated strategies, and did not support a classical dual reproductive strategy. Our study suggests possible hidden lag effects of harvest disturbance on spacing dynamics that are not necessarily apparent when only assessing demographic recovery of harvested populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Population recovery highlights spatial organization dynamics in adult leopards

et al. 2016

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“…2006) in much of our study area. A change from more uniform prey distribution in summer to a clumped and predictable prey distribution in winter may facilitate a reduction in search time, since lynx maintain their territories, and the associated knowledge of prey distribution, for years (Breitenmoser‐Würsten et al . 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In winter, roe deer were clumped around human settlements (either around artificial feeding sites or close to agricultural land; see Bunnefeld et al 2006) in much of our study area. A change from more uniform prey distribution in summer to a clumped and predictable prey distribution in winter may facilitate a reduction in search time, since lynx maintain their territories, and the associated knowledge of prey distribution, for years (Breitenmoser-Würsten et al 2007). Another potential explanation is that domestic sheep were available as an alternative lynx prey during summer in the parts of our study area with low roe deer densities .…”

Section: T H E R E L a T I O N S H I P B E T W E E N P R E Y D E N S mentioning

confidence: 96%

Climate, season, and social status modulate the functional response of an efficient stalking predator: the Eurasian lynx

Nilsen

Linnell

Oddén

et al. 2009

Journal of Animal Ecology

112

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Summary1. Predation plays a major role in shaping the structure and dynamics of ecological communities, and the functional response of a predator is of crucial importance to the dynamics of any predatorprey system by linking the trophic levels. For large mammals, there is a dearth of field studies documenting functional responses, and observations at low prey density are particularly scarce. Furthermore, there is a lack of understanding about how variables such as season, social status and climate modulate the functional response curves. 2. We analysed kill rate data collected over a 10-year period based on radio-marked lynx ( Lynx lynx ) mainly preying on roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus ) along a steep prey density gradient in southeastern Norway. 3. The asymptotic kill rate was reached at a very low prey density for both solitary individuals and family groups (i.e. females with their dependent kittens), indicative of an efficient predator. This highlights the importance of understanding the interplay between predator and prey at low prey densities. 4. A purely prey-dependent functional response was a poor descriptor of the data, as the curve was strongly modulated by season and differences between lynx of different social status. In addition, there was a clear effect of abiotic climatic factors (indexed by the North Atlantic Oscillation) on observed kill rates in the more snow-rich portion of our study area. 5. Our analysis suggests that simple functional response curves might be poor descriptors of predator consumption rates in complex natural system, and that auxiliary factors are likely to induce complexity into any predator-prey systems that would not be captured by simple deterministic approaches.

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“…In Eurasian lynx, females are able to give birth at the age of 2 years, but there is considerable variation in the proportion that do so (see, e.g., Henriksen et al 2005 for examples from wild and captive lynx). Lynx are solitary like most other felid species (Breitenmoser-Würsten et al 2007), but females provide maternal care for their oVspring until broods break up in early to mid-winter after a period of investment lasting for around 12 months: 2 months prenatal and 10 months post-natal (Schmidt 1998;Zimmermann et al 2005). During this period, females accompanied by oVspring have high energetic needs resulting in high kill rates (Nilsen et al 2009), putting heavy pressure on the hunting skills of lynx females.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

The cost of maturing early in a solitary carnivore

et al. 2010

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Central to the theory of life history evolution is the existence of trade-offs between different traits, such as the trade-off between early maturity and an extended period of body growth. Based on analysis of the reproductive tracts of harvested Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) females in Norway, we find that females that mature early are generally heavier than those that postpone maturation. A higher proportion of 1.5-year-old females showed signs of ovulation in areas with high prey density, where they were also heavier. Further, we show that female Eurasian lynx that mature early have the same number of placental scars (an index of breeding investment and litter size) as older females, suggesting that they have a relatively high investment in their first litter. This induces a cost in terms of body weight development, as those females that had matured at the age of 1.5 years were substantially lighter by the age of 2.5 years than those that postponed breeding. This effect tended to be more pronounced in areas with low prey density. We discuss to what extent this might affect their future fitness prospects, and suggest that such costs of maturing early in terms of body weight development might be high in terrestrial large carnivores due to a prolonged period of postnatal care.

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Spatial and Social stability of a Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx population: an assessment of 10 years of observation in the Jura Mountains

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 42 publications

References 30 publications

Population recovery highlights spatial organization dynamics in adult leopards

Population recovery highlights spatial organization dynamics in adult leopards

Climate, season, and social status modulate the functional response of an efficient stalking predator: the Eurasian lynx

The cost of maturing early in a solitary carnivore

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