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 wellpreserved 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 [X ±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.

In the 20th century, five species of birch-leafmining sawflies were inadvertently introduced from Europe to North America: Heterarthrus nemoratus (Fallén), Fenusa pumila Leach, Profenusa thomsoni (Konow), Fenusella nana (Klug), and Scolioneura vicina Konow. All have been recorded at outbreak levels in North America, and three (F. pumila, P. thomsoni, and H. nemoratus) have been the targets of successful biological control programs. The most recently detected species, F. nana and S. vicina, are good candidates for future biological control in Canada. We review the biology of all five of these birch-leafmining sawflies in North America and present keys to adults, larvae, and mines to aid correct identification.

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