1. Reintroducing carnivores has become a widely used technique to restore the natural integrity of ecosystems. Accurate estimates of demographic parameters for reintroduced populations are essential to evaluate the success of the reintroduction programme, assess the need to release additional animals and to develop management recommendations. 2. In an effort to establish a viable population of Canada lynx Lynx canadensis in Colorado, USA, the Colorado Division of Wildlife released 218 wild-caught lynx from 1999 to 2006. All lynx were released with very high frequency (VHF) and/or satellite transmitters from which locations, mortality, reproduction, habitat use and movement patterns were documented. We present estimates of mortality. 3. Known-fate models could not be applied here to estimate mortality due to excessive missing location data because of either extensive movement outside of the study area or transmitter failure. Instead we employed a multistate model to address these issues. 4. We describe how the more general multistate mark–recapture model can accommodate missing data to estimate monthly mortality rates of released lynx both inside and outside the study area. We also explored factors possibly affecting lynx survival such as sex, time spent in pre-release captivity, movement patterns and origin. 5. Monthly mortality rate was lower inside the study area than outside, and slightly higher for males than for females, although 95% confidence intervals overlapped for sexes. Mortality was higher immediately after release [first month = 0·0368 (SE = 0·0140), and 0·1012 (SE = 0·0359) respectively, inside and outside the study area], and then decreased according to a quadratic trend. Annual survival was 0·9315 (SE = 0·0325) within the study area and 0·8219 (SE = 0·0744) outside the study area. 6. Synthesis and applications. For those contemplating lynx, or other carnivore reintroductions, we suggest identifying a high-quality release site to minimize mortality. We recommend that managers consider the demography of animals separately within and outside the reintroduction area for valid assessment of the reintroduction. Movements of reintroduced animals and their subsequent loss through death or permanent emigration may require the need for additional individuals to be released for a successful reintroduction effort.

Vole population cycles are a major force driving boreal ecosystem dynamics in northwestern Eurasia. However, our understanding of the impact of winter on these cycles is increasingly uncertain, especially because climate change is affecting snow predictability, quality, and abundance. We examined the role of winter weather and snow conditions, the lack of suitable habitat structure during freeze‐thaw periods, and the lack of sufficient food as potential causes for winter population crashes. We live‐trapped bank voles Myodes glareolus on 26 plots (0.36 ha each) at two different elevations (representing different winter conditions) in southeast Norway in the winters 2013/2014 and 2014/2015. We carried out two manipulations: supplementing six plots with food to eliminate food limitation and six plots with straw to improve habitat structure and limit the effect of icing in the subnivean space. In the first winter, all bank voles survived well on all plots, whereas in the second winter voles on almost all plots went extinct except for those receiving supplemental food. Survival was highest on the feeding treatment in both winters, whereas improving habitat structure had no effect. We conclude that food limitation was a key factor in causing winter population crashes.

Fishing spiders (Dolomedes spp.) make an interesting model to predict the impact of global changes because they are generalist, opportunistic predators, whose distribution is driven mostly by abiotic factors. Yet, the two European species are expected to react differently to forthcoming environmental changes, because of habitat specialization and initial range. We used an original combination of habitat and dispersal data to revisit these predictions under various climatic scenarios. We used the future range of suitable habitat, predicted with habitat variables only, as a base layer to further predict the range or reachable habitat by accounting for both dispersal ability and landscape connectivity. Our results confirm the northward shift in range and indicate that the area of co-occurrences should also increase. However, reachable habitat should expand less than suitable habitat, especially when accounting for landscape connectivity. In addition, the potential range expansion was further limited for the red-listed D. plantarius, which is more of a habitat specialist and has a lower ability to disperse. This study highlights the importance of looking beyond habitat variables to produce more accurate predictions for the future of arthropods populations.