Lynx commun

The major threats to lynx in Europe are low acceptance among some stakeholder groups due to conflict with hunters and in northern Europe also with livestock farmers and semi-domestic reindeer herders that can result in illegal killing and political pressure for more legal killing, loss and fragmentation of habitat mainly due to infrastructure development, poor wildlife management structures and poor law enforcement, as well as accidental mortality.

Depredation on domestic animals by Eurasian Lynx is a minor problem in most range-countries, however such depredation has caused conflicts and management problems in some range countries such as Switzerland (Angst et al. 2000), France (Drouet-Hoguet et al. 2021), Sweden and Norway. Illegal killing is a limiting factor to the increase and expansion or a threat to the establishment of reintroduced subpopulations in some regions such as the Swiss Alps and the Bohemian-Bavarian Forest (Arlettaz et al. 2021, Heurich et al. 2018).

There are also concerns in regard to the low genetic diversity and small population sizes shown in some of the subpopulations. Besides the autochthonous Balkan Lynx subpopulation this particularly concerns all the reintroduced subpopulations which have – compared to the Carpathian source population – a considerably reduced heterozygosity and a high number of lost alleles as a consequence of genetic drift (Breitenmoser et al. 2011, Breitenmoser-Würsten and Obexer-Ruff unpubl.). Reduced heterozygosity is more pronounced in the Alpine (Breitenmoser-Würsten and Obexer-Ruff unpubl., Breitenmoser-Würsten and Obexer-Ruff 2003), Dinaric (Sindicic et al. 2013), Bohemian-Bavarian-Austrian and Vosges-Palatinian subpopulations (Bull et al. 2016) while the Jura subpopulation is doing better. Inbreeding and inbreeding depression are, therefore, potential threats to all the reintroduced, small subpopulations.

Additional threats to the European subpopulations as assessed by the contributors are detailed below:

1. Jura
Traffic accidents, illegal killing, conflicts with hunters and lack of conflict mitigation.

2. Vosges-Palatinian
Illegal killing due to conflicts with hunters and fragmentation used to be the major threats. Currently, the small population size is of big concern.

3. Alpine
Threats include illegal killing, infrastructure development (especially road construction), vehicle and train collisions, and limited dispersal. An emerging threat for the Alpine population is the narrow genetic base: all the relatively few founder animals came from the same region and some of them were probably closely related. Genetic analysis indicates that the Alpine population has the lowest level of heterozygosity of all reintroduced lynx populations.

4. Bohemian-Bavarian-Austrian
Illegal killing, conflicts with hunters, and poor enforcement of legislation are the most relevant threats. Illegal killing is considered the most likely cause for the limited distribution (Magg et al. 2016).

5. Dinaric
Poor enforcement of legislation (illegal killing), traffic mortalities and prey/food base depletion are major threats to the Dinaric population. An emerging additional threat is inbreeding depression as the population displays a considerable level of inbreeding (Sindicic et al. 2013).

6. Carpathian
Poor integration of science into decision-making, traffic mortalities, conflicts with hunters, and lack of knowledge about species numbers and trends (lack of robust monitoring systems) are considered the most prominent threats.

7. Scandinavian
The main threats are legal hunting and illegal killing, both motivated by conflicts with livestock (semi-domestic reindeer, free-ranging sheep, Mattisson et al. 2014) and conflicts with hunters (Andrén et al. 2011).

8. Karelian
Potential threats are legal hunting/culling, conflicts with hunters, and lack of capacity and funding in management authorities.

9. Baltic
Roads and railroads, poor dialogue with stakeholders, prey/food base, lack of knowledge about species numbers and trends, and lack of capacity and funding in management structures were considered the most important threats.

10. Balkan
Poor enforcement of legislation, lack of capacity and funding in management structures, poor integration of science into decision-making, corruption, illegal killing and poorly regulated large-scale forestry all pose a major threat to the Balkan Lynx.

11. Harz
Road fatalities and diseases are the most relevant mortality factors of the released lynx so far (Anders 2016).

It is included on CITES Appendix II and listed in the Bern Convention (Appendix III with the exception of the Balkan Lynx Lynx lynx balcanicus which is listed in Appendix II) and the EU Habitats Directive (Annexes II and IV, except for Estonia where it is Annex V and with an exception from Annex II, and Finland and Latvia where it also has an exception from Annex II). The lynx is protected and hunting is prohibited in Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland and Ukraine. In Sweden, Finland and Romania the Eurasian Lynx is protected but a limited number of lynx can be killed under Derogation. In Estonia and Norway, the Eurasian Lynx is listed as a game species with an open hunting season and in Latvia, lynx are exploited to a limited extent under derogation (Kaczensky et al. 2013). In the European part of Russia, the Eurasian Lynx is hunted/trapped in places where it is abundant as in some areas of the Central region and the Volga region, and in most areas of the northwestern region. Hunting is not allowed in the Northern Caucasus and in the southern region (Bersenev et al. 2011).

In several European range states, prevention measures to reduce livestock depredation are in place and awareness has increased (Kaczensky et al. 2013). Besides compensation and improved livestock protection, management responses to lynx depredation on domestic animals also include lynx removal. In several European countries, lynx hunting is thus part of the conflict management system. More human-dimension studies on the Eurasian Lynx are needed to research more in detail the factors affecting the (lack of) tolerance to lynx (Breitenmoser and Breitenmoser-Würsten submitt.), particularly by hunters.

The protected areas in Europe are too small to host viable lynx populations (Chapron et al. 2014, Belotti et al. 2015), and hence in the multi-use landscapes coexistence with humans is needed. Two pan-European conservation strategies to guide lynx conservation are available, the first commissioned by the Bern Convention (Breitenmoser et al. 2000), the second by the EU Commission (Boitani et al. 2015). Together with the Guidelines on Transboundary Management of Large Carnivore Populations in Europe (Linnell et al. 2008), these documents aim at facilitating the development of regional or international conservation action plans (see list in Kaczensky et al. 2013; most plans are available on www.lcie.org).

Since 2006, a programme for the recovery of the Balkan Lynx has been implemented aiming to secure the survival and recovery of this Critically Endangered subspecies. However, until now no population recovery has been detected. It remains unclear if this is because wildlife conservation is of low priority in the Balkan range countries of the lynx or if the very small subpopulation suffers from intrinsic problems or a combination of both (Melovski et al. 2021).

There is a need for improved surveys and monitoring activities in many parts of the Carpathian and Baltic subpopulations. A transboundary monitoring scheme would facilitate the implementation of targeted conservation actions (Schmidt et al. 2021). The small and isolated European Lynx subpopulations in western and central Europe need genetic improvement through the translocation of individuals from the source population (Carpathian) and improved connectivity between the subpopulations to allow gene flow and prevent inbreeding depression. There is a need for range-wide coordination of conservation actions (Kubala et al. 2021). Building and maintaining a viable Lynx metapopulation across West and Central Europe will require well-informed international cooperation between scientists, authorities and conservation practitioners across the designated range, following a common strategy as outlined by the Bonn Lynx Expert Group (2021). The Bonn Lynx Expert Group (2021) outlined the long-term goal of one large natural and managed metapopulation of the Carpathian Lynx across its original distribution range and in the designated mountain ranges in West and Central Europe. To reach this goal it is needed to maintain the autochthonous and reintroduced subpopulations, to connect subpopulations through the formation of regional metapopulations, to foster the expansion and connectivity of the subpopulations through further reintroductions and to conduct stepping-stone releases (Molinari et al. 2021, Breitenmoser and Breitenmoser-Würsten submitt.). In regard to future translocations, a challenge is the sourcing of animals with regard to the conservation and genetic status of the various subpopulations. All reintroduced subpopulations have a reduced genetic diversity and at least some are inbred. Restoration of genetic variability is needed (Bonn Lynx Expert Group 2021). As the availability of suitable individuals from the autochthonous or reintroduced subpopulations might be limited for genetic, health or simply organisational reasons, the use of lynx from a special ex situ breeding programme is intended (Lengger et al. 2021).

Further recommendations on general and population-specific measures for the European subpopulations are compiled in Boitani et al. (2015).