Summary. -Activity pattern of European wild rabbits has been studied in a Mediterranean ecosystem of SW Iberian Peninsula, from where they are a native species. The daily activity pattern of rabbits in the area is similar to those found in other countries where the species has been introduced : high activity at night and at twilights, and scarce activity by day. However, this general pattern shows seasonal changes probably related to environmental conditions and antipredatory strategies. Changes in rabbits activity are correlated mainly with temperature, but sunlight, moonlight, and wind also affectit. Variations of activity pattern suggest that controlling mechanisms are flexible enough to allow adaptations to changing environments.Resume. -Le rythme d'activite des lapins de garenne a ete etudie dans un ecosysteme mediterraneen du sud-ouest de la peninsule iberique, aire d'origine de cette espece. Le rythme d'activite journalier dans la region est similaire ä celui qu'on observe dans d'autres pays ou 1'espece a ete introduite : activite importante durant la nuit et au crepuscule, mais faible durant la journee. Cependant, ces tendances generates montrent des variations saisonnieres probablement reliees aux conditions environnementales et aux strategies anti-predateurs. Les changements d'activite des lapins sont correles principalement avec la temperature, mais Illumination solaire et lunairc 1'affectent egalement. Les variations du rythme d'activite suggerent que les mecanismes qui le contrölent sont suffisamment souples pour permettre Tadaptation aux environnements changeants.

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Climate change affects distribution and persistence of species. However, forecasting species’ responses to these changes requires long-term data series that are often lacking in ecological studies. We used 15 years of small mammal trapping data collected between 1978 and 2015 in 3 areas at Doñana National Park (southwest Spain) to (i) describe changes in species composition and (ii) test the association between local climate conditions and size of small mammal populations. Overall, 5 species were captured: wood mouse Apodemus sylvaticus, algerian mouse Mus spretus, greater white-toothed shrew Crocidura russula, garden dormouse Eliomys quercinus, and black rat Rattus rattus. The temporal pattern in the proportion of captures of each species suggests that the small mammal diversity declined with time. Although the larger species (e.g., E. quercinus), better adapted to colder climate, have disappeared from our trapping records, M. spretus, a small species inhabiting southwest Europe and the Mediterranean coast of Africa, currently is almost the only trapped species. We used 2-level hierarchical models to separate changes in abundance from changes in probability of capture using records of A. sylvaticus in all 3 areas and of M. spretus in 1. We found that heavy rainfall and low temperatures were positively related to abundance of A. sylvaticus, and that the number of extremely hot days was negatively related to abundance of M. spretus. Despite other mechanisms are likely to be involved, our findings support the importance of climate for the distribution and persistence of these species and raise conservation concerns about potential cascading effects in the Doñana ecosystem.

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