Long-term monitoring of the relative density in the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) with track counts in Doñana National Park 2007-2022

The long-term monitoring of carnivore tracks in Doñana is part of a harmonised protocol for the Long-term Ecological Monitoring Program of Natural Resources and Processes targeting mammals' populations. The general aim of this protocol is to study the temporal evolution of the relative density of the main species of carnivores in the main habitats of the Doñana National Park. Tracks surveys were done annually after the first rains of the hydrological year, i.e. the first autumn rains, usually in October. Due to climate change, in recent years the rainy season has been delayed until the beginning of the year. This protocol has stablished in 2007 and it has done annually until the present (2022), except in 2021 when due to logistical problems no census was made. Censuses are carried out through 12 prefixed transects, with sand substrate, in Doñana National Park. Each transect consists of a 2 km of length and 1.5 m of width that is done by a car at a constant speed between 10 and 15 km/h. Transects are cleaned the day before of the census with a metal beam to facilitate the read of the tracks and to ensure that the foot prints were from the previous day. Each transect is repeated in three consecutive days, and during the transect the sand is cleaned for the next day. In the census an expert in mammals’ tracks identifies all the tracks, i.e. groups of carnivore foot prints, and he/she records them in Cybertracker. That way, tracks' information like coordinates, hour, species identification and observation was recorded; and also the information of each transect was recorded: surveyors, drivers, date, start and end (hour and coordinates). This method enables to calculate Kilometric Abundance Indexes (KAI) for each species and transect. In order to clarify all carnivore datasets, the data was separated by species, this allows concrete analysis by species. In this dataset Iberian lynx´s (Lynx pardinus) data is presented.

对多纳纳地区肉食性动物踪迹的长期监测构成了自然资源与过程长期生态监测计划的协调协议的一部分。本协议的总体目标是研究多纳纳国家公园主要栖息地中主要肉食性动物物种相对密度的时序演变。踪迹调查通常在每年的首次水文年份降雨，即每年的初秋，通常在10月份进行。由于气候变化的影响，近年来雨季推迟至年初。该协议于2007年建立，并一直持续至2022年，除2021年因物流问题未能进行普查。普查通过12条预定的、以沙质底土为基础的横断面进行，横断面长度为2公里，宽度为1.5米，由汽车以10至15公里/小时的速度匀速行驶完成。在普查前一天，使用金属梁对横断面进行清理，以便利踪迹的读取并确保足迹来自前一天。每个横断面在连续的三天内重复进行，并在横断面期间清理沙质地面以备次日使用。在普查过程中，由精通哺乳动物踪迹的专家识别所有踪迹，即肉食性动物的脚印群，并使用Cybertracker进行记录；同时，记录了踪迹信息，如坐标、时间、物种鉴定和观察结果；还记录了每个横断面的信息：调查员、驾驶员、日期、开始和结束时间（小时和坐标）。此方法能够计算每个物种和横断面的千米密度指数（KAI）。为了阐明所有肉食性动物数据集，数据根据物种进行了分离，这允许对特定物种进行具体分析。在本数据集中，展示了伊比利亚猞猁（Lynx pardinus）的数据。