Among felids worldwide, only 6 of 38 species have stable or increasing populations, and most felid species are threatened by anthropogenic influences, especially habitat loss and fragmentation. We documented changes in genetic diversity in an isolated, reintroduced population of bobcats on Cumberland Island (CUIS), Georgia, USA, compared to another bobcat population on Kiawah Island, South Carolina, USA, that was naturally established and experiences limited immigration from the mainland. The CUIS population declined from 32 reintroduced bobcats in 1989 to 10–24 individuals during 2012–2019, and observed heterozygosity declined from 0.742 to 0.634 (SD = 0.240). Observed heterozygosity of bobcats on Kiawah was 0.699 (SD = 0.153). We estimated that one bobcat immigrated to Kiawah Island every 5.3 years. We compared the predictions of a novel population viability analysis (PVA) to empirical estimates of abundance and genetic diversity on CUIS and used our PVA to identify management actions that are likely to support long-term viability. Mean heterozygosity from the PVA (0.588, SD = 0.065) was within 1 standard deviation of the empirical estimate. The PVA estimated the population would decline following population restoration due to loss of genetic diversity and inbreeding depression. Translocations of one female every four years would stabilize allele heterozygosity similar to the Kiawah Island population, but even translocations of two females every two years would not restore heterozygosity to founder levels. The PVA predicted no management action would result in a one in five probability of extinction within 50 years of reintroduction, but all translocation strategies nearly eliminated extinction risk through 100 years.

在全世界的猫科动物中，只有38种中有6种具有稳定或不断增加的种群，大多数猫科动物受到人为因素的威胁，特别是栖息地的丧失和破碎化。我们记录了美国佐治亚州坎伯兰岛（CUIS）上一个孤立的，重新引入的山猫种群的遗传多样性变化，而美国南卡罗来纳州Kiawah岛上的另一个山猫种群是自然建立的，并且从大陆的移民有限。CUIS种群从1989年的32只山猫减少到2012-2019年的10-24只，观察到的杂合度从0.742降低到0.634（SD = 0.240）。观察到的山猫在Kiawah上的杂合度为0.699（SD = 0.153）。我们估计，每5.3年就有一只山猫移民到Kiawah岛。PVA）对CUIS的丰度和遗传多样性进行经验估计，并使用了我们的PVA确定可能支持长期生存能力的管理措施。来自PVA的平均杂合度（0.588，SD = 0.065）在经验估计的1个标准偏差内。PVA估计，由于遗传多样性的丧失和近亲衰退，种群恢复后种群数量将下降。每四年换位一名女性将使等位基因杂合性稳定，与基亚瓦岛人口相似，但即使每两年换位两名女性也无法将杂合性恢复至创始人水平。PVA预测，在重新引入后的50年内，没有任何管理措施会导致灭绝的可能性为五分之一，但是所有易位策略在100年内几乎消除了灭绝的风险。