Population density of the wild cat in Cabañeros: among the lowest in Europe

    The application of a joint spatially-explicit capture-recapture (CREE) model reveals that the population density of the wildcat in the Cabañeros National Park is one of the lowest in Europe, a situation that could be common for this rare felid in the southern Iberia.


    Wildlife conservation often requires estimation of the size of their populations. The low density and elusive behavior of many carnivore species often result in sparse data sources, making it difficult to accurately estimate their abundance and/or population density. However, conjoint analysis of sparse and independent data sources in a common modeling environment could allow population parameters to be estimated accurately and without bias.

    Scientists from the Research Group in Game Resources and Wildlife Management of the Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC – CSIC, UCLM, JCCM), led by Dr. Pablo Ferreras and in collaboration with researchers from the University of Malaga and CIBIO-University of Porto (Portugal), have combined different independent databases in a spatially-explicit capture-recapture (CREE) framework with the objective of estimating the population density of bobcat (Happy New Year) in the Cabañeros National Park, a protected area in central Spain.

     

    Data from live captures with individual identification, from photo-trapping without individual identification, and from radio-tracking, obtained simultaneously but independently in the Cabañeros National Park, were integrated into a joint spatially-explicit capture-recapture model. (CREE) and data count.

    The integration of the data in the conjoint model improved the accuracy of the abundance estimate compared to that obtained from a simple CREE model. The average population density estimated with the integrated model (0,038 ± 0,017 cats/km2) is among the lowest values ​​described to date for the species in the whole of Europe., despite being a highly protected area such as a National Park. Among the possible causes of this low density, the low availability of prey (rabbits and small mammals) could have triggered a whirlwind process of extinction.

    The authors of the work suggest that the low density estimated for this population of wildcats could represent a common situation among wildcat populations in southern Iberia, which raises the need for further studies and the urgency of conservation measures in the most southeastern end of the distribution of this species in Europe.

     

    Some previous works, which analyze the survival and causes of mortality of the wildcat, already warn of the "silent extinction" of the cat in Europe.

    The scientific publication of this research is available at: