Modéliser le potentiel des régions de basses altitudes d'Europe Occidentale pour le retour du lynx eurasien (Lynx lynx)

Abstract

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