IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Klar, N.; Hermann, M.; Kramer-Schadt, S. | |
| Effects of roads on a founder population of lynx in the biosphere reserve "Pf„lzerwald-Vosges du Nord" | |
| 2006 Naturschutz und Landschaftsplanung (38): 330-337 | |
Roads as barriers and mortality factors are of great concern for mammal populations with large spatial needs such as the lynx (_Lynx lynx_, L. 1758). Since effects on populations, especially for large mammals, are difficult to assess in the field, they are rarely taken into account in planning decisions. We used a spatially explicit population model for lynx to assess the effects of roads on a founder population of lynx in the transboundary biosphere reserve "Pf„lzerwald - Vosges du Nord". Furthermore, we analyse the impact of mitigation measures at roads on a lynx population; we also discuss the potential role of models in these planning decisions. Avoidance of roads with high traffic volume within the biosphere reserve (e.g. B 10) can seriously lower the survival probability of a lynx population because it separates it into two sub-populations with a higher extinction risk. Roads with high barrier effects on the margin of the biosphere reserve like the A4 (Col du Saverne/ Zaberner Steige) hinder the colonisation of neighbouring patches. Increasing mortality on a single road, like the B10, leading through good lynx habitat over a long distance can seriously increase the extinction risk of the whole population. Intelligent placement of overpasses, e.g. not at newly built roads but at another pre-existing problematic road elsewere, can increase the probability of survival for the lynx population. To support the habitat corridor of European importance in the Northern Vosges - Palatine Forest mountain range and to preserve their functionality as habitat for a lynx population the permeability (safe crossing possibilities) of the major barriers B10, A4 and A6 must be guaranteed. |
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