Home range size and choice of management strategy for lynx in Scandinavia

Annual and seasonal home ranges were calculated for 47 Eurasian lynx in fou r Scandinavian study sites (two in Sweden and two in Norway). The observed home ranges were the largest reported for the species, with study site aver ages ranging from 600 to 1400 km(2) for resident males and from 300 to 800 km(2) for resident females. When home range sizes were compared to the size of protected areas (national parks and nature reserves) in Scandinavia, it was concluded that very few protected areas contained sufficient forest to provide space for more than a few individuals. As a direct consequence of this, most lynx need to be conserved in the multiuse seminatural forest hab itats that cover large areas in Scandinavia. This conservation strategy lea ds to a number of conflicts with some land uses (sheep and semidomestic rei ndeer herding, and roe deer hunters), but not all (forestry and moose harve st). Accordingly research must be aimed at understanding the ecology of the se conflicts, and finding solutions.