not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown In the face of ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation, examining the genetic dynamics of range ex-pansion provides important insights into the resilience and adaptability of large carnivore populations returning to parts of its former range. This study investigates the genetic structure of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) population during its natural range expansion into southern Sweden, an area from which it had been extirpated for over a century. We utilized genomic data from 600 individual lynx collected throughout the recolonization period to assess heterozygosity, inbreeding, and genetic dif-ferentiation. Our results indicate no significant genetic structure or barriers to gene flow during this recolonization event, despite potential physical barriers such as lakes, farmland, and human infra-structure. Observed and expected heterozygosity, as well as the inbreeding coefficient did not show significant variation over time or across latitude, suggesting that connectivity with the source popula-tion was maintained. Spatial principal component analysis, cluster analysis, and discriminant analysis of principal components further supported these findings, showing little spatial or temporal structure. This lack of genetic structure contrasts with the experience of smaller and more isolated lynx popula-tions, which have become inbred. Our study, thus, provides valuable insights into the natural range expansion of a large carnivore in human-dominated landscapes and underscores the importance of ensuring genetic connectivity for successful recolonization and conservation efforts.

Survival among juvenile ungulates is an important demographic trait affecting population dynamics. In many systems, juvenile ungulates experience mortality from large carnivores, hunter harvest and climate-related factors. These mortality sources often shift in importance both in space and time. While wolves (Canis lupus) predate on moose (Alces alces) throughout all seasons, brown bear (Ursus arctos) predation and human harvest happen primarily during early summer and fall, respectively. Hence, understanding how the mortality of juvenile moose is affected by predation, harvest and climate is crucial to adaptively managing populations and deciding sustainable harvest rates. We used data from 39 female moose in south-central Scandinavia to investigate the mortality of 77 calves in summer/fall and winter/spring, in relation to carnivore presence (defined as wolf presence and bear density), summer productivity, secondary road density, winter severity and migratory strategy (migratory versus resident) using logistic regressions. Summer mortality varied significantly between years but was not correlated to any of our covariates. In winter, calf mortality was higher with deeper snow in areas with wolves compared to areas without and increased more strongly with an increasing proportion of clearcuts/young forests in the presence of wolves compared to when wolves were absent. Lastly, increasing hunting risk was associated with higher calf mortality, and migratory females had higher calf mortality compared to stationary ones. Our study provides useful insight into mortality rates of moose calves coexisting with two large carnivores and with an intensive harvest pressure. Increasing our understanding of the mechanisms driving calf mortality both in summer and winter will become increasingly important if the populations of wolves and bears continue to expand and the moose population declines, and both summers and winters become warmer.

Spatial patterns of human hunting and predation risk are mediated by the physical landscape, with human hunting risk often associated with habitat features contrasting those linked to risk from large carnivores. Risk patterns from hunters and large carnivores can also vary in time, which may allow prey species to adjust anti-predator strategies not only in risky places but also during risky times. We examined whether moose (Alces alces) in south-central Scandinavia adjusted diel habitat selection during and after the hunting season in response to contrasting human hunting and wolf (Canis lupus) predation risks. We found evidence for a diel and seasonal shift in habitat selection of moose consistent with a behavioural adaptation to no human hunting risk at night and after the hunting season. We found no evidence that moose responded to the spatiotemporal variation in wolf predation risk since moose selected habitats of high wolf predation risk both day and night during and after the hunting season. Human hunting risk was therefore the main driver of moose habitat selection during the hunting season while decreasing in importance during times when hunting did not occur. However, since we did not find evidence for a diel or seasonal shift in habitat selection consistent with an increase in the importance of wolf predation risk during the night and after the hunting season, our study is in line with the notion that moose in Scandinavia are currently naïve to wolves. Our findings show the importance of including the effects of humans in studies of predator-prey dynamics within anthropogenic landscapes. An increased understanding of the risk effects arising from humans and large carnivores and the responses of prey might be important for managing ungulate populations, since behaviours aimed at reducing exposure to risk may also affect crucial demographic traits like growth and reproduction.