Shedding light on long-term trends in Mediterranean carnivore populations: five species, one scenario, different responses

Long-term studies of community composition and relative abundance are key tools in wildlife management and biodiversity conservation. However, few studies of this kind are available for Mediterranean carnivores, especially in the Iberian Peninsula, a hotspot of mammal biodiversity in Europe. We used 15 years of carnivore monitoring data from the Donana National Park, one of the most representative areas for carnivores in Iberia, to obtain population trends for the main Mediterranean carnivore species. They were positive for red fox, stable for badger and Egyptian mongoose, and negative for common genet and Iberian lynx. The importance of long-term datasets and the implications of the results for the studied species at global level are discussed, above all for species whose population trends are less well known. This is the case of the Egyptian mongoose, for which we present novel information on its long-term population trend in Europe, and of the Iberian lynx, an endangered species with a clear negative trend in this well-protected area.

Automated summary

Long-term studies of Mediterranean carnivores in the Iberian Peninsula are rare, despite its high mammal biodiversity. By analyzing 15 years of monitoring data from Donana National Park, we found positive population trends for red fox, stable trends for badger and Egyptian mongoose, and negative trends for common genet and Iberian lynx. This study highlights the importance of long-term datasets and provides novel information on population trends for less well-known species like the Egyptian mongoose and the endangered Iberian lynx.