38 J. S. Alexander et al. Our study emphasizes that hunters and pastoralists have
extensive knowledge of the landscape that could be further harnessed for lynx population monitoring (Lescureux et al., 2011). Current national level monitoring efforts draw on this, but are conducted at a larger spatial scale and lack care- ful assessment of detection probability. Our occupancy modelling collected data on detections and non-detections across respondents’ areas of knowledge. The results indicate that, when accounting for the low probability of detection, the area of site use by lynxes over the last 10 years is substan- tial. Adjusting for this probability and the availability of forest cover, the area of site use may be up to 5.5 times larger than the naïve site use over the same period, an even greater difference than elsewhere (Molinari-Jobin et al., 2018). The location of the Giffre Valley plays a key role for the alpine population, acting as a bridge between the northern and southern Alps. Although lynxes have been detected in the valley, it remains unclear whether they are resident, as we did not receive reports of females with young. Our respondents’ area of knowledge covered almost the entire valley, highlighting their strengths as citizen scientists. This foundation of experiential and local knowledge underlines opportunities for leveraging such stakeholder networks for lynx detection and potentially conservation in other settings. This approach would need to be placed in the context of a broader multi-faceted strategy to address a range of challenges to human–lynx coexistence that could arise in the future (Linnell et al., 2000; Røskaft et al., 2007). Investigations of human–carnivore interactions remain a
sensitive topic in highly polarized and politicized settings (Eklund et al., 2020, 2023). In this study we note that strong social ties have been developed within stakeholder groups, which have a clear sense of identity and purpose. We there- fore relied on snowball sampling within these tight net- works, which required building trust, particularly in discussions that could evoke sensitive issues such as recent damage caused by wolves (Redpath et al., 2013; Young et al., 2016; Eklund et al., 2020). Encouragingly, we found a high level of respondent engagement and interest in this research. However, respondent bias related to sample selection re- mains a possibility and we may only have captured a limited segment of the hunter and pastoralist community views. It would be interesting to examine differences in perception between livestock owners and herders, for example. Even within stakeholder groups, views related to human–lynx co- existence were diverse and often contradictory, with hunters, for example, voicing strong opinions both for and against the presence of lynxes in their area (Lescureux et al., 2011). Successful management of the return of the lynx needs to
be built on a thorough appreciation of local stakeholder va- lues and perspectives around which dialogue can be estab- lished. This will serve to leverage local expertise and secure cooperation between stakeholders to promote biodiversity,
and thereby avoid social conflict (Redpath et al., 2013; Eklund et al., 2020, 2023).
Author contributions Study design, fieldwork: all authors; data analysis: JA; writing: all authors.
Acknowledgements We thank the Interdisciplinary Centre for Mountain Research of the University of Lausanne for financial sup- port; all local actors for their interest, contributions and suggestions; and Claude Fisher and Ann Eklund for their helpful comments during the course of this research.
Conflicts of interest None.
Ethical standards This research abided by the Oryx and University of Lausanne guidelines on ethical standards. Participants provided in- formed consent (details in Supplementary Material 1), were informed about the study’s purpose and consented to data use for publication. No personal identifying data were collected; questionnaire data were anonymized for privacy and confidentiality.
Data availability Data supporting the study’s findings are available upon request from the corresponding author, JA. The data are not publicly accessible to protect the privacy of research participants.
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