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Inbreeding depression poses a severe threat to small populations, leading to the fixation of deleterious mutations and decreased survival probability. While the establishment of natural gene flow between populations is an ideal long-term solution, its practical implementation is often challenging. Reinforcement of populations by translocating individuals from larger populations is a viable strategy for reducing inbreeding, increasing genetic diversity and potentially saving populations from extinction. The Dinaric population of Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx ) has faced high inbreeding levels, with effective inbreeding reaching 0.316 in 2019, endangering the population's survival. To counteract this, population reinforcement was implemented between 2019 and 2023, involving the translocation of 12 individuals from the Carpathian Mountains to the Dinaric Mountains of Slovenia and Croatia. We conducted comprehensive genetic monitoring in this area, gathering 588 non-invasive and tissue samples, which were used for individual identification and estimation of population genetic parameters. We used stochastic modelling to assess the long-term viability of the Dinaric lynx population post-translocation and formulate effective conservation strategies. The model predicts that, despite significant improvement of genetic diversity after translocations, inbreeding will return to critical levels within 45 years. Our results highlight the fact that reinforcement is just the first step and that long-term genetic management is needed to keep the population from sliding back towards extinction. The Dinaric lynx population serves as a compelling example of genetic rescue. The lessons learnt here will be essential for ensuring the viability of the Dinaric lynx in the future and also provide a useful template for conservation of other populations and species facing similar threats., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (© 2025 The Author(s). Evolutionary Applications published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The estimation of foraging parameters is fundamental for understanding predator ecology. Predation and feeding can vary with multiple factors, such as prey availability, presence of kleptoparasites and human disturbance. However, our knowledge is mostly limited to local scales, which prevents studying effects of environmental factors across larger ecological gradients. Here, we compared inter-kill intervals and handling times of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) across a large latitudinal gradient, from subarctic to the Mediterranean ecosystems, using a standardised dataset of predicted adult ungulate kills from 107 GPS-collared lynx from nine distinct populations in Europe. We analysed variations in these two foraging parameters in relation to proxies reflecting prey availability, scavengers' presence and human disturbance, to improve our understanding of lynx predation at a continental scale. We found that inter-kill intervals and handling times varied between populations, social status and in different seasons within the year. We observed marked differences in inter-kill intervals between populations, which do not appear to be driven by variation in handling time. Increases in habitat productivity (expressed by NDVI, used as a proxy for prey availability) resulted in reduced inter-kill intervals (i.e. higher kill rates). We observed less variation in handling (i.e. feeding) times, although presence of dominant scavengers (wild boars and brown bears) and higher human impact led to significantly shorter handling times. This suggests that kleptoparasitism and human disturbance may limit the energetic input that lynx can obtain from their prey. We also observed that the human impact on foraging parameters can be consistent between some populations but context-dependent for others, suggesting local adaptations by lynx. Our study highlights the value of large-scale studies based on standardised datasets, which can aid the implementation of effective management measures, as patterns observed in one area might not be necessarily transferable to other regions. Our results also indicate the high degree of adaptability of these solitary felids, which enables them to meet their energy requirements and persist across a wide range of environmental conditions despite the constraints imposed by humans, dominant scavengers and variable prey availability., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Animal Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society.)

Wildlife must adapt to human presence to survive in the Anthropocene, so it is critical to understand species responses to humans in different contexts. We used camera trapping as a lens to view mammal responses to changes in human activity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Across 163 species sampled in 102 projects around the world, changes in the amount and timing of animal activity varied widely. Under higher human activity, mammals were less active in undeveloped areas but unexpectedly more active in developed areas while exhibiting greater nocturnality. Carnivores were most sensitive, showing the strongest decreases in activity and greatest increases in nocturnality. Wildlife managers must consider how habituation and uneven sensitivity across species may cause fundamental differences in human-wildlife interactions along gradients of human influence., (© 2024. The Author(s).)