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Baseline (pre-reinforcement) genetic status of SE Alpine and Dinaric Lynx population

Dinaric lynx population, which went extinct at the turn of the 20th century, was reintroduced in 1973. The reintroduction was done with three pairs of lynx translocated from Slovak Carpathians to an area close to Kočevje in SE Slovenia. While the population initially did very well and expanded both numerically and spatially, we have been observing its decline over the last two decades. Considering genetic erosion as one of the main causes, the project LIFE Lynx was started to counter its effects and prevent the population extinction. However, as it is impossible to reach the critical population viability thresholds within a single LIFE project, we intend to make a long-term plan for genetic management of the population as one of the concluding actions of the project. To be able to do that, we must have an understanding how the genetic picture developed after the 1973 reintroduction, and what is the “baseline” status of the population before the population augmentation that started in 2019. That was the main goal of this project action, and its genetic component is the main topic of this report.

lynx, reintroduction, genetic variability

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