Hare's affairs: Lessons learnt from a noninvasive genetic monitoring for tracking mountain hare individuals ...

• Main Authors: Schenker, Laura, Bollmann, Kurt, Rehnus, Maik, Brodbeck, Sabine, Gugerli, Felix
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2020
• Subjects: capture–mark–recapture; genotypoing error rates; Lagomorphs; Lepus timidus; nuclear microsatellites SSR; genetic monitoring; mountain hare
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.1vhhmgqqm; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.1vhhmgqqm

Systematic monitoring of individuals and their abundance over time has become an important tool to provide information for conservation. For genetic monitoring studies, noninvasive sampling has emerged as a valuable approach, particularly so for elusive or rare animals. Here, we present the five-year results of an ongoing noninvasive genetic monitoring of mountain hares (Lepus timidus) in a protected area in the Swiss Alps. We used nuclear microsatellites and a sex marker to identify individuals and assign species to noninvasively collected feces samples. Through including a marker for sex identification, we were able to assess sex-ratio changes and sex-specific demographic parameters over time. Male abundance in the area showed high fluctuations and apparent survival for males was lower than for females. Generally, males and females showed only little temporary migration into and out of the study area. Additionally, using genotyped tissue samples from mountain hares, European hares (Lepus europaeus) and ... : Data originate from a non-invasive sampling of feces of mountain hare, Lepus timidus, collected in the Swiss National Park over a five-year period (2014-2018). DNA was extracted from the fecal samples and genotyped at nuclear microsatellites (simple sequence repeats, SSRs) loci and a sex marker using a multi-tube approach. Based on these sample-specific genetic fingerprints, individual genotypes were determined and population dynamics were derived. Moreover, a comparison with genotypes obtained from tissue samples of L. timidus and European hare (Lepus europaeus) allowed to assign individual genotypes to the respective species or putative hybrids. ...