Home Range Size and Choice of Management Strategy for Lynx in Scandinavia

Annual and seasonal home ranges were calculated for 47 Eurasian lynx in four Scandinavian study sites (two in Sweden and two in Norway). The observed home ranges were the largest reported for the species, with study site averages ranging from 600 to 1400 km2 for resident males and from 300 to 800 km2 for resident females. When home range sizes were compared to the size of protected areas (national parks and nature reserves) in Scandinavia, it was concluded that very few protected areas contained sufficient forest to provide space for more than a few individuals. As a direct consequence of this, most lynx need to be conserved in the multiuse seminatural forest habitats that cover large areas in Scandinavia. This conservation strategy leads to a number of conflicts with some land uses (sheep and semidomestic reindeer herding, and roe deer hunters), but not all (forestry and moose harvest). Accordingly research must be aimed at understanding the ecology of these conflicts, and finding solutions.

[1]  M. Mills.  Conservation management of large carnivores in Africa , 1991 .

[2]  R. Bergström,et al.  Trends in the moose—forest system in Fennoscandia, with special reference to Sweden , 1996 .

[3]  L. Carbyn,et al.  Population Viability, Nature Reserves, and the Outlook for Gray Wolf Conservation in North America , 1995 .

[4]  R. Bonduriansky,et al.  Eliminating autocorrelation reduces biological relevance of home range estimates , 1999 .

[5]  Lars Ericson,et al.  Boreal Forests—The Focal Habitats of Fennoscandia , 1992 .

[6]  J. Wiens,et al.  Spatial Scaling in Ecology Author ( s ) : , 1989 .

[7]  Stephen Harris,et al.  Home‐range analysis using radio‐tracking data–a review of problems and techniques particularly as applied to the study of mammals , 1990 .

[8]  Guy Mountfort,et al.  Saving the Tiger , 1973, Oryx.

[9]  R. Terry Bowyer,et al.  Migratory patterns of mountain lions : Implications for social regulation and conservation , 1999 .

[10]  M. Boman.  Estimating costs and genetic benefits of various sizes of predator populations: the case of bear, wolf, wolverine and lynx in Sweden , 1995 .

[11]  M. Oli.  Winter home range of snow leopards in Népal , 1997, Mammalia.

[12]  H. Andrén,et al.  Disease Reveals the Predator: Sarcoptic Mange, Red Fox Predation, and Prey Populations , 1994 .

[13]  J. Arnemo,et al.  Use of intraperitoneal radio-transmitters in lynx Lynx lynx kittens: anaesthesia, surgery and behaviour , 1999, Wildlife Biology.

[14]  H. Haller,et al.  Zur Raumorganisation der in den Schweizer Alpen wiederangesiedelten Population des Luches (Lynx lynx.) , 1985 .

[15]  L. Mech.  A new era for carnivore conservation , 1996 .

[16]  H. Andrén,et al.  Winter lynx Lynx lynx predation on semi-domestic reindeer Rangifer tarandus in northern Sweden , 1999, Wildlife Biology.

[17]  P. Sunde,et al.  Tolerance to humans of resting lynxes Lynx lynx in a hunted population , 1998, Wildlife Biology.

[18]  P. Sunde,et al.  Foraging of lynxes in a managed boreal-alpine environment , 2000 .

[19]  P. Sunde,et al.  Diet patterns of Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx: what causes sexually determined prey size segregation? , 1997 .

[20]  K. Schmidt,et al.  Foraging by lynx and its role in ungulate mortality: the local (Białowieża Forest) and the Palaearctic viewpoints , 1993 .

[21]  John D. C. Linnell,et al.  Habitat use and ecological correlates of home range size in a small cervid : the roe deer , 1996 .

[22]  R. Kowalczyk,et al.  Predation of Eurasian lynx on roe deer and red deer in Białowieża Primeval Forest, Poland , 1997 .

[23]  Peter Jackson,et al.  Riding the tiger : tiger conservation in human-dominated landscapes , 1999 .

[24]  B. Haglund.  De stora rovdjurens vintervanor II , 1969 .

[25]  J. Swenson,et al.  The near extinction and recovery of brown bears in Scandinavia in relation to the bear management policies of Norway and Sweden , 1995, Wildlife Biology.

[26]  K. Schmidt,et al.  Population dynamics (1869–1994), demography, and home ranges of the lynx in Bialowieza Primeval Forest (Poland and Belarus) , 1996 .

[27]  Ecology of Lynx in Northern Canada and Alaska , 1999 .

[28]  U. Breitenmoser.  Large predators in the Alps: The fall and rise of man's competitors , 1998 .

[29]  U. Breitenmoser,et al.  Patterns of Predation by Reintroduced European Lynx in the Swiss Alps , 1993 .

[30]  James L. D. Smith,et al.  Home ranges of sloth bears in Nepal: implications for conservation , 1995 .

[31]  T. Bjerke,et al.  Attitudes toward large carnivores among sheep farmers, wildlife managers, and research biologists in Norway , 1999 .

[32]  L. Mech.  The challenge and opportunity of recovering wolf populations , 1995 .

[33]  Christer Nilsson,et al.  Protected Areas in Sweden: Is Natural Variety Adequately Represented? , 1992 .

[34]  D. Maehr.  The Florida Panther and Private Lands , 1990 .

[35]  A. Rodgers,et al.  Differences in home-range size computed in commonly used software programs , 2001 .