Suitability of GPS telemetry for studying the predation of Eurasian lynx on small- and medium-sized prey animals in the Northwestern Swiss Alps

• Published in: European journal of wildlife research 2018-12, Vol.64 (6), p.1, Article 73
• Main Authors: Vogt, Kristina, Vimercati, Eric, Ryser, Andreas, Hofer, Elizabeth, Signer, Sven, Signer, Claudio, Breitenmoser, Urs
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Composition; Diet; Ecology; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management; Foxes; Global positioning systems; GPS; Life Sciences; Lynx lynx; Original Article; Predation; Prey; Telemetry; Ungulates; Zoology
• ISSN: 1612-4642; 1439-0574
• DOI: 10.1007/s10344-018-1225-7

Predator diet composition and kill rates have to be known in order to quantify predation pressure on prey populations. While ground-truthing of GPS location clusters (GLCs) is a reliable method for finding large- and medium-sized prey items, finding the remains of small prey is still considered a major difficulty. In this study, we searched GLCs of Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx in the Northwestern Swiss Alps in order to determine if GLC analysis is a suitable method for detecting kill sites of new-born ungulates and other small prey animals. Juvenile ungulates made up 26% of the prey spectrum and 17% total consumed biomass (TCB), while hares, marmots, and red foxes accounted for 25% of all found prey items (8% TCB). Lynx spent significantly more time in GLCs containing large prey, but no clear transition in GLC duration for distinguishing between large (≥ 10 kg; mean duration = 46.9 h, SD = 30.1 h) and small prey (