Abstract
Spatial and social ecology are important aspects in understanding the ecology of animals due to its influence on population structure and dynamics. In territorial species, social ecology can explain territorial dynamics, distribution and colonization of populations. Wolverine and lynx are territorial and polygynous. In both species all young males disperse, whereas female dispersal frequency is lower. In this project we will test the hypotheses: 1 ? Lynx and wolverine have a saturated dispersal pattern, i.e. dispersal from a local population will mainly occur when it is saturated. 2 ? Territory settlement follows a despotic distribution, i.e. high quality territories will be occupied first. We predict that dispersing females will occupy the nearest vacant territory, and the death of a female will not influence local density as she will be quickly replaced by a female from the neighbourhood. Both wolverine and lynx cause extensive losses of semi-domestic reindeer. One way to mitigate conflicts between reindeer herding and predators is killing in high-density areas of these species. However, if young individuals from the neighbourhood quickly replace killed animals, as predicted, the number of predators might not decrease in high-density areas and the intended conflict measure will have no effect. To understand effects of killing on local density of wolverine and lynx and their distribution we need detailed knowledge of their spatial and social dynamics.
Sweden