Suprapubic Bladder Drainage

Abstract

<h3>Abstract</h3> Persistence of viable populations may be uncertain for large carnivore species, especially for those established in human-dominated landscapes. Here, we studied the Eurasian lynx in Western Europe established in the Upper Rhine metapopulation (i.e., Jura, Vosges-Palatinian and Black Forest populations) and in the Alpine population. These populations are currently considered as endangered or critically endangered due to high anthropogenic mortality and isolation. We assessed lynx persistence over a 50-year time horizon by implementing a spatially-explicit individual-based model while accounting for road mortality and habitat selection. For the Alpine and Jura populations, forecasts showed a steady growth rapidly reaching a stabilization phase with high resident female occupancy, and a positive growth for the newly re-established Vosges- Palatinian population. Moreover, this population showed a difference in female occupancy between the northern part, where a recent reintroduction program was conducted in the Palatinate Forest, and the southern part. Only the group of individuals in the Black Forest had an irregular growth probably due to the small number of only male lynx at start of the simulation and poor connectivity to surrounding populations. Exchanges of individuals between populations were limited, and the Jura population played the role of a crossroad. Persistence of lynx in Western Europe seems likely on a large scale over the next 50 years. However, lynx persistence in the southern part of the Vosges-Palatinian population and in the Black Forest appears challenging without long-term conservation management.