Hare's affairs: Lessons learnt from a noninvasive genetic monitoring for tracking mountain hare individuals.

ABSTRACT: Systematic monitoring of individuals and their abundance over time has become an important tool to provide information for conservation. For genetic monitoring studies, noninvasive sampling has emerged as a valuable approach, particularly so for elusive or rare animals. Here, we present the 5-year results of an ongoing noninvasive genetic monitoring of mountain hares (Lepus timidus) in a protected area in the Swiss Alps. We used nuclear microsatellites and a sex marker to identify individuals and assign species to noninvasively collected feces samples. Through including a marker for sex identification, we were able to assess sex ratio changes and sex-specific demographic parameters over time. Male abundance in the area showed high fluctuations and apparent survival for males was low

SUBMITTER: Schenker L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7520196 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature