Iberlince participates in the scientific meeting of the international project Woodnet

On March 19th, 20th an 21st, the LIFE Iberlince project 'Recovery of the historical distribution of the Iberian lynx in Spain and Portugal' will participate in the scientific meeting convened by the international project Woodnet – ‘Connectivity patterns and processes along a gradient of European landscapes with woody vegetation and spatial heterogeneity’ – in Andújar (Jaén) to analyse, 'in situ', the characteristics of the landscape of one of the main Iberian lynx population centres, and make them known to research groups associated with the project.

Over the course of the three days, 20 researchers of the project will come together and address technical aspects such as methodologies to analyse landscape connectivity, the development of habitat quality models for the different species under study, or legal connectivity aspects, among others.

The Woodnet project contemplates the Iberian lynx as a model species, since there is a large database of lynx locations marked with GPS-GPRS collars and previous analysis of habitat selection and landscape connectivity, which will allow for the assessment of possible improvements that the new remote sensing products and methodologies developed in the project can provide.

In order to go in depth into the specific case of the Iberian lynx, the meeting will be attended by Iberlince project director, Miguel Ángel Simón, as well as Iberlince specialists, who will share their experience to enrich the discussion on connectivity analysis, territory permeability, development of green infrastructures, evaluation of ecosystem resources, and conservation of endangered species.

The results obtained in this meeting aim to support specific projects currently being developed to promote habitat quality and connectivity of lynx populations, which may have an impact on the conservation of other species associated with the Mediterranean forest.

Woodnet is an international project funded by the European Union, through the BiodivERsA program, whose main objective is to provide innovative and specific tools to analyse connectivity across a range of landscapes. As an area of study in the Spanish territory, it contemplates - in addition to the Cantabrian Mountains - south-eastern Spain (Andalusia, Extremadura and Castilla-La Mancha), which encompasses stable populations and Iberian lynx reintroduction areas in Spain.