Hunting for answers: rabbit (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryctolagus cuniculus</Emphasis>) population trends in northeastern Spain |
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Authors: | Daryl Williams Pelayo Acevedo Christian Gortázar Marco A Escudero José Luis Labarta Javier Marco Rafael Villafuerte |
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Institution: | (1) College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA;(2) Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), P.O. Box 535, Ronda de Toledo s.n., E-13071 Ciudad Real, Spain;(3) Ebronatura S.L. Camino de Cabezón s.n., E-50730 El Burgo de Ebro, Zaragoza, Spain |
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Abstract: | Some populations of European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in Spain have recovered after rabbit hemorrhagic disease, but others (the majority) have not recovered. The European wild
rabbit is a keystone species in Spain’s Mediterranean ecosystems, and several factors have been studied to determine what
will stabilize populations and possibly propagate recovery. Many of the previous efforts to determine these pivotal factors
have been short-term studies focused on few localities. Most management efforts and studies focused on the well-preserved
habitats of southwestern Spain. Our objective was to examine spotlight counts from 60 localities over the past 13 years following
the arrival of rabbit hemorrhagic disease in Aragón, northeastern Spain, to estimate rabbit population trends using linear
regressions. The number of rabbits seen was transformed into a rough kilometric abundance index. With this data, we calculated
a population trend index only for those localities with 6 or more years of data (n=42). No clear population trends were observed for the study period at a regional scale ±SE, range]; (0.065±0.081 from −0.860 to 0.915). We also examined factors that potentially influence regional rabbit population
trends, including vegetation, topography, soil softness, climate, predator population trends, and hunting pressure. Our results
indicate that rabbit trends have their strongest positive correlation with low hunting pressure and are negatively affected
in areas of hard soils. In Aragón, the best populations of endangered raptors are concentrated in the Central Valley, which
is the same area where rabbit populations are currently increasing. |
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Keywords: | Abundance Diseases European wild rabbit Human influence Iberian Peninsula |
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