Teresa Oliveira is a Wildlife Ecologist , University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract:
Europe hosts diverse habitats and environmental conditions, with increasing populations of large carnivores. The Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) is a large solitary felid of conservation concern, and a top predator in European landscapes. Many lynx populations, particularly in Central Europe, have suffered from severe inbreeding in recent decades, prompting several reintroductions and population augmentation efforts. I will begin by providing an overview of the status of lynx populations across Europe, as well as presenting the outcomes of a recent, successful reinforcement project in the Dinaric Mountains of Slovenia and Croatia. While conservation efforts continue, initiatives are also underway to combine and standardize datasets across Europe, advancing our understanding of Eurasian lynx ecology. I will be presenting some of the work developed within these initiatives related to lynx foraging ecology across Europe. We show that foraging parameters varied significantly between populations and with respect to multiple ecological factors on a pan-European scale. Lynx showed high adaptability to such factors, particularly human disturbance. We also investigated the spatial distribution of kill sites by females in relation to their den sites and found differences between climates and prey species, with females in northern areas generally traveling more to obtain food resources. As one of the main conservation challenges facing the Eurasian lynx is perceived competition with hunters, a deeper understanding of foraging ecology and its drivers is essential for improving lynx conservation efforts and mitigating conflicts with hunting communities in Europe.

Biography:
I have been working with several carnivore species across Europe, from the European wildcat in the Iberian Peninsula, to the grey wolf and Eurasian lynx in Central/Eastern Europe. I have mostly focused on understanding their basic ecology, as well as collaborating on conservation projects. I have recently concluded my PhD at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), where I studied Eurasian lynx foraging and spatial ecology at different spatial scales across Europe. I am particularly interested in basic and applied ecology of predators, especially with respect to foraging behaviour and predator-prey interactions.