Large carnivores have made a successful comeback across human-dominated landscapes in Central Europe. The Eurasian lynx, for instance, has been actively reintroduced in different regions. Genetic diversity is quickly eroding in these isolated, small populations, questioning the long-term success of lynx reintroductions. To track population development and genetic diversity in a reintroduced lynx population, we used microsatellite analysis and mtDNA haplotyping based on 379 samples collected during the initial 15 year period of lynx reintroduction in the Harz mountains National Park, Germany. The Harz lynx population shows higher genetic diversity relative to other lynx reintroductions, due to initial cross-breeding of divergent captive source lineages and a comparably high founder size. While the population shows significant population growth and spread into adjacent regions, genetic diversity is continiously declining. Expected heterozygosity values dropped from 0.63 after reintroduction (2006/2007) to 0.55 within a 10 year period. Despite this, the Harz lynx population is currently a viable component to an envisioned lynx metapopulation spanning across Central Europe. The ongoing genetic erosion in the Harz population along with a lack of geneflow from adjacent populations indicates that such connectivity is urgently needed to ensure long-term population persistence.

大型食肉动物在中欧以人为本的景观上取得了成功的卷土重来。例如，欧亚天猫座已在不同地区积极引进。在这些孤立的小种群中，遗传多样性正在迅速消失，这对天猫重新引入的长期成功提出了质疑。为了追踪再引入的山猫种群的种群发展和遗传多样性，我们基于在德国哈茨山国家公园最初15年的天猫重新引入过程中收集的379个样本，使用了微卫星分析和mtDNA单倍型分析。相对于其他的天猫，哈尔茨天猫种群显示出更高的遗传多样性，这是由于不同的圈养源血统的初始杂交和相对较高的创始人规模。尽管人口显示出显着的人口增长并扩散到邻近地区，但遗传多样性却在不断下降。预期的杂合度值在十年内从重新引入后的0.63（2006/2007年）下降到0.55。尽管如此，Harz的山猫种群目前仍是整个中欧设想的山猫种群的可行组成部分。Harz人口中正在进行的遗传侵蚀以及相邻人口的基因流不足表明，迫切需要这种连接性，以确保长期的人口持久性。目前，Harz天猫座种群是整个中欧地区预想的天猫座种群的可行组成部分。Harz人口中正在进行的遗传侵蚀以及相邻人口的基因流不足表明，迫切需要这种连接性，以确保长期的人口持久性。目前，Harz天猫座种群是整个中欧地区预想的天猫座种群的可行组成部分。Harz人口中正在进行的遗传侵蚀以及相邻人口的基因流不足表明，迫切需要这种连接性，以确保长期的人口持久性。