title: Does kinship affect spatial organization in a small and isolated population of a solitary felid: The Eurasian lynx?
abstract: Social organization in wild carnivores is mostly determined by patterns of family bonds, which may shape the degree of relatedness among individuals in the population. We studied kinship in a small and isolated population of a solitary carnivore, the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) to evaluate its effect on spatial distribution of individuals. We investigated the relationship between spatial location and pair-wise kinship among 28 lynx individuals identified in 2004-2011 by telemetry, non-invasive sampling and genotyping with the use of 12 autosomal microsatellites in the Białowieża Primeval Forest, Poland. The average relatedness of the lynx population was relatively low (Lynch and Ritland's R = 0.03). Females were significantly more related to each other than males with other males. The inferred pedigree showed that the population was dominated by only 2 familial groups. We did not find significant correlations between the relatedness and the extent of home range overlap or the straight-line distances between the home ranges' central points. These results suggest that the dynamics of kinship in this solitary felid may not differ from the random mating processes described in social carnivores. Although the chances of random mating could be limited to a few resident males and females, the presence of unrelated floaters may provide a "breeding buffer" that may prevent an increase of relatedness and likely inbreeding in the population. This system is likely to fail in preserving genetic diversity in small, highly isolated populations; therefore, restoring habitat connectivity is crucial to ensure sufficient immigration from neighboring populations.
authors.affiliation: Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland. kschmidt@ibs.bialowieza.pl.
authors.forename: Krzysztof
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetics, Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Ozzano Emilia, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Davoli
authors.affiliation: Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland.
authors.forename: Rafał
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kowalczyk
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Genetics, Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Ozzano Emilia, Italy.|Aalborg University, Department of Biotechnology, Chemistry and Environmental Engineering, Aalborg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Ettore
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Randi
mesh_terms: D063147:Animal Distribution; D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006197:Hair; D006702:Homing Behavior; D046008:Lynx / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D018895:Microsatellite Repeats / Q000235:genetics; D011044:Poland; D012919:Social Behavior; D013037:Spatial Behavior; D013686:Telemetry
keywords: genetic variability; inbreeding; mating system; relatedness; social organization