Female and male Eurasian lynx have distinct spatial tactics at different life-history stages in a high-density population

Abstract

Knowledge regarding the spatial behavior of the Eurasian lynx is mainly inferred from populations in Europe. We used GPS telemetry to record the spatial behavior of nine individuals in northwestern Anatolia obtaining eleven home ranges (HRs). Analyses revealed the smallest mean HR sizes (nHR♀ = 4) at 57 km2 (95% kernel utilization distribution, KUD) and 56 km2 (95% minimum convex polygon, MCP), ever reported for adult female Eurasian lynx. Adult males either occupied small permanent territories (nHR♂.T = 2), with a mean of 176 km2 (95% KUD) and 150 km2 (95% MCP), or were residents without territories (floaters, nHR♂.F = 2) roaming across large, stable HRs with a mean size of 2,419 km2 (95% KUD) and 1,888 km2 (95% MCP), comparable to HR sizes of Scandinavian lynx populations. Three disperser subadult males did not hold stable HRs (mean 95% KUD = 203 km2, mean 95% MCP = 272 km2). At 4.9 individuals per 100 km2, population density was one of the highest recorded, suggesting that the presence of adult male floaters was a consequence of a landscape fully occupied by territorials and revealing a flexibility of spatial behavior of Eurasian lynx not previously recognized. Such a high population density, small HRs, and behavioral flexibility may have been aided by the legal protection from and apparent low levels of poaching of this population. The observed spatial tactics are unlikely to be seen in most of the previously studied Eurasian lynx populations, as they either suffer medium to high levels of human-caused mortality or were unlikely to be at carrying capacity. For effective and appropriate conservation planning, data from felid populations in a reasonably natural state such as ours, where space, density, prey, and pathogens are likely to be the key drivers of spatial dynamics, are therefore essential.