Abstract
Large carnivores have made a successful comeback across human-dominated landscapes in Central Europe. The Eurasian lynx, for instance, has been actively reintroduced in different regions. Genetic diversity is quickly eroding in these isolated, small populations, questioning the long-term success of lynx reintroductions. To track population development and genetic diversity in a reintroduced lynx population, we used microsatellite analysis and mtDNA haplotyping based on 379 samples collected during the initial 15 year period of lynx reintroduction in the Harz mountains National Park, Germany. The Harz lynx population shows higher genetic diversity relative to other lynx reintroductions, due to initial cross-breeding of divergent captive source lineages and a comparably high founder size. While the population shows significant population growth and spread into adjacent regions, genetic diversity is continiously declining. Expected heterozygosity values dropped from 0.63 after reintroduction (2006/2007) to 0.55 within a 10 year period. Despite this, the Harz lynx population is currently a viable component to an envisioned lynx metapopulation spanning across Central Europe. The ongoing genetic erosion in the Harz population along with a lack of geneflow from adjacent populations indicates that such connectivity is urgently needed to ensure long-term population persistence.
Highlights
Large carnivores, such as wolves and lynx, are currently expanding their ranges across Central and Western Europe (Chapron et al 2014)
Long term post-release monitoring over the past two decades has enabled a detailed reconstruction of the demographic history of the Eurasian lynx in the Harz Mountains (HM)
Despite a low number of founders, the captive origin of released individuals, and highly divergent reproductive success within the population, we conclude that the population is currently growing despite the continuing loss of genetic diversity occuring in each subsequent generation
Summary
Large carnivores, such as wolves and lynx, are currently expanding their ranges across Central and Western Europe (Chapron et al 2014). This process of de-extinction is generally considered beneficial to restore biodiversity as native top-level predators have overall-positive effects on ecosystem function and health (Ripple et al 2014; Schmitz et al 2010). Between 1971 and 2018, 16 reintroductions of lynx have been attempted across Central Europe (Linnell et al 2009). These reintroductions were widely unsuccessful; establishment occurred in only five areas, while the long-term fate remains unknown for multiple reintroductions due to lack of sufficient information post release (Linnell et al 2009).
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