| Summary: | Hunting success has proved to be among the main factors determining the fitness of carnivores. Several studies on "stalk and ambush" predators supported the "prey-abundance hypothesis" (predators hunt where the prey is more abundant), while others supported the "landscape hypothesis" (predators hunt where the habitat features increase prey catchability). We focused on microhabitat selection by Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the Bohemian Forest, in relation to the species hunting strategy. We compared the relative densities of its main prey, roe deer (Capreolus capreolus) and red deer (Cervus elaphus), with the distribution of killed ungulate prey. We analyzed fine-scale habitat features at the points where a kill was found thanks to telemetry data and by chance (n=31 for vegetation season and n=46 for non-vegetation season). We integrated such data with parameters obtained from GIS layers. We compared the features of the kill points with the ones of points selected inside lynx constantly occupied areas (n=211 for each season) and with the ones of red deer and roe deer positions (n=100 for each season and species) by telemetry. At a large-scale level, the lynx hunted more frequently where the prey was more abundant, in particular in the case of roe deer prey, according to the "prey abundance hypothesis". At finer-scale level the environmental variables clearly acquired importance: in the non-vegetation season, the habitat features linked to visibility and which provide good "stalking cover" played a substantial role in the lynx hunting success, according to the "landscape hypothesis". The most important parameters slightly differed in the case of killed roe deer or killed red deer and the lynx relied much more on habitat features when hunting red deer than roe deer. In the vegetation season the features related to visibility lost importance, probably due to the homogenizing effect of the grown vegetation, nonetheless the habitat structure still had relevant influence.
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