First public involvement in eurasian lynx distribution registration in Lithuania from 2009

• Main Authors: Adeikis, Petras, Špinkytė-Bačkaitienė, Renata, Šimkevičius, Kastytis
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Lynx; Distribution; Lithuania; Public observations; Lynx lynx lynx
• Online Access: http://asu.lvb.lt/ASU:ELABAPDB19934693&prefLang=en_US

From 2009 the Lithuanian hunter’s forum (www.hunter.lt) requested information about the activities of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx L., 1758). The volunteers provided precise information on their observation of lynx and included such information as number of individuals, time, location and any other important facts. During a six year period 160 reports, suitable for analyses (i.e. fulfilled observational requirements), were received. In 2009, 34 reports were received, in 2010 – 23, in 2011 – 39, in 2012 only 9 reports were received, but in 2013 and 2014 the number of reports received increased to 23 and 32 reports per year.The Lithuanian hunter’s forum is an open access forum, where any visitor is able to register their lynx observations. Therefore, it can be assumed the records were randomly distributed and that the results reflect real lynx distribution throughout Lithuania. Importantly long-term research, such as this study, where data is collected over successive years can increases the reliability and accuracy of both the data and results.According to data received during the six year period (2009–2014), lynx activity was observed in 80.8% of Lithuanian municipalities (excluding the municipalities of towns). The majority of the records were received from districts of Panevėžys (18 records), Ukmergė (12) and Biržai (11).The most registered observations of lynx were visual sighting. Single individual observations were registered the most (83% of records). There were 4 registered cases, when 4 lynx were observed simultaneously and 2 registered cases where lynx were involved with vehicle accidents in 2009 and 2010.A land cover analysis indicated that the territories with the lynx observations contained 49.9% forest cover. This exceeds the average forest cover in Lithuania (33.3 %). The young stands prevailed in forests occupied by lynx comparing with control plots.