Internal structure and patterns of contraction in the geographic range of the Iberian lynx

We use reports obtained in a field sur c to characterize the internal structure, and to reconstruct the strong contraction in the geographic range of the Iberian lynx Lynx pirdinas during it 35-yr period, Lynx were distribute, in one large central population surrounded by smaller peripheral ones, Abundance was autocorrelated, attained high values only In a few scattered sites mostly within the central population. and increased from west to east alone major mountain chains. Abundance and occupancy were positively treated, The strength of range contraction was similar in both large and small populations We were able to date two peaks of local extinction, which were accompanied by many events of population fragmentation, We also identified five areas where local extinctions aggregated in apace. Lynx relative abundance appeared to be site-specific and the probability of local extinction decreased with increasing abundance, We suggest that sublethal deteriministic factors operating with similar intensity all over the range. rather than in progression from a focal point. best explain the observed trajectory of contraction, Two factors that meet such characteristics may have had an outstanding role in lynx decline. One of them is myxomatosis, an introduced vital disease that decimated rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus. the staple prey of the lynx, The other is Mated to the changes in land use prompted by extensive human emigration from the countryside 40 yr ago, Other stochastic or superimposed deterministie factors may have accounted for regional aggregation of local extinction, The identification of these factors is cry important to reserve the lasting decline of this endangered felid.