Modeling the potential for Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) return in lowland Western Europe

In the last forty years, tolerance of anthropic environment has allowed large
carnivores to recolonize and expand their distribution in Western Europe.
To assess the full potential and consequences of this return, habitat use and
landscape modeling are particularly useful tools that allow conservationists
to come up with reliable prediction, and policy makers to anticipate
management planning. The considerable power of dispersal and important
space requirements of these species necessitate large-scale modeling, but it
is essential to work in parallel at very fine scale, as carnivores’ impact on
human societies is mostly felt at local level. Management of large carnivores
must therefore be multi-scalar, with different decisions taken at multiple
levels. With the return of the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx) to lowland Western
Europe, in regions of relatively high human densities, conservation-
planning decisions must be knowledge based. Different approaches will be
followed to analyze data at finer and larger scales. These include differential
distribution and tolerance of lynx to fragmentation and anthropization,
influence of landscape on lynx predation and the development of a
conceptual model aiming at responding efficiently to conflicts with human
populations. Results will permit the development of a lowland Western
Europe habitat model, and to propose conservation measures adapted to the
return of this emblematic carnivore. Results will permit the development
of a lowland Western Europe habitat model, and to propose conservation
measures adapted to the return of this emblematic carnivore.