Monitoring_Lynx-lynx-carpathicus

3. Výsledky zo západných Karpát / Results from the Western Carpathians________________________________________________________________________________________Abundance and density of Eurasian lynxin the Štiavnica Mts. and Veľká Fatra, SlovakiaJAKUB KUBALA 1 , MÁRIA APFELOVÁ 2 , TOMÁŠ IĽKO 1 , ĽUDOVÍT REMENÍK 2 , RADOVAN REŤKOVSKÝ 2 ,ROBIN RIGG 3 , JÚLIUS SCHESTÁG 2 , PETER SMOLKO 1 , BRANISLAV TÁM 4 , JURAJ ŽIAK 2 , CHRISTINEBREITENMOSER-WÜRSTEN 5 , DANILO FORESTI 5 , FRIDOLIN ZIMMERMANN 5 & URS BREITENMOSER 51Technical University in Zvolen, Ul. T.G. Masaryka 24, 960 53 Zvolen, Slovakia; jakubkubala@zoznam.sk2Veľká Fatra NP administration, Hviezdoslava 38, 036 01 Martin, Slovakia3Slovak Wildlife Society, P.O. Box 72, 033 01 Liptovský Hrádok, Slovakia; info@slovakwildlife.org4Bojnice Zoo, Zámok a okolie 6, 97201 Bojnice, Slovakia5KORA, Thunstrasse 31, CH 3074 Muri (Bern), SwitzerlandConservation and management of species shouldbe based on pertinent data on population status.None of the lynx populations in Europe isgeographically restricted to only one country(Kaczensky 2013a,b) and for this reason theirpractical management calls for an internationalapproach at multiple geographical scales(continent - population - country - locality).The population of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) inthe Carpathians is one of the most importantpopulations in Europe. The positive status of lynxin Slovakia (former Czechoslovakia) in the 1970sand 1980s enabled the implementation ofreintroduction programmes for the species inwestern and central Europe, for which Slovakiaprovided founder animals (Stehlík 1979). Several ofthe reintroduced populations initially thrived, butsubsequently their growth and spread stopped(Swiss Alps; Molinari-Jobin et al. 2003) or evendecreased markedly (Dinaric Mts.; Sindičić et al.2013). The reasons for these problems arecurrently the subject of on-going research, butinbreeding is most likely one of the major threatsto the survival of these populations. The solutionproposed is population augmentation usingindividuals from the Carpathian source population.The Carpathian lynx population should continueto be a source of “original” genotypes for futurereintroduction and reinforcement projects. In thiscontext, Slovakia has a particular responsibility forthe conservation and management of the species,particularly in cooperation with other countries ofthe Carpathian bow (von Arx et al. 2004). The mainprecondition for this role is sound populationmanagement and above all a detailed evaluation ofthe state of the autochthonous lynx population inSlovakia.However, although the lynx population in theCarpathians is probably not threatened, scientificdata on biology, ecology and status are currentlylacking. It is widely accepted that estimates of keypopulation parameters (abundance, density andtrend) are substantially overestimated in theSlovak Carpathians due to inadequate monitoringmethods (Okarma et al. 2000, Salvatore et al. 2002,Linnell & Okarma 2003). Official data are based onreports from hunting grounds, which aresignificantly smaller in size than lynx home ranges,leading to multiple counting of the sameindividuals.The required data on population parameterscan be obtained using appropriate methods.Monitoring with camera traps (“camera trapping”)is now a common approach for estimating thepopulation parameters of scarce species or thosethat live secretively and at low densities, such asfelids (Karanth 1995). Eurasian lynx, like severalother felids, have unique coat patterns which canbe used to differentiate and identify individuals.This permits robust estimates of population________________________________________________________________________________________Monitoring Lynx lynx carpathicus, Rigg & Kubala (2015) 42