Habitat requirements of the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pallas 1778) in an intensively used agriculture region (Lower Saxony, Germany)

Abstract

Background The European brown hare ( Lepus europaeus ) typically resides in open habitats in agriculturally dominated landscapes in Europe. Over recent decades, a widely observed population decline occurred, which was attributed to agricultural intensification. However, with political incentives for specific crops, especially maize for energy production, the habitat went through massive changes. Thus, there is the need to identify parameters that characterize a suitable habitat for the brown hare in today’s agricultural lands. Results We modelled European brown hare densities spatially and temporally explicit over 10 years (2005–2014) across an entire federal state. The generalized additive mixed model confirms a constant decline of the European brown hare population in Lower Saxony. Municipalities with a high proportion of grassland and precipitation totaling up to 900 mm are more favored. Woodland showed an approximately linear negative effect. The most important agricultural crop groups such as winter grains and winter oilseed rape showed overall positive effects on hare densities. However, the effect of maize was unimodal, with a positive effect of medium proportions, but a negative effect of very high proportions. The effect of sugar beet was relatively weak but negative. Brown hares were also more abundant in municipalities with a higher density of vixen with litter and municipalities with a high proportion of wildflower strips showed higher brown hare abundance. Conclusion Lower Saxony is a diverse federal state with grassland dominated areas in the northwest, more woodland in the east, but intensive arable land in most remaining areas. The European brown hare—a species with a wide ecological potency—shows preferences to both grassland and the most typical arable crop groups such as winter grains and winter oilseed rape. The substantial increase in maize production within the time frame was likely unfavourable and may be one reason for the decline. Nonetheless, political tools such as the agri-environmental scheme “wildflower strips” were beneficial for the brown hare abundance and may be an option to reverse the decline seen over the 10 years. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12898-019-0247-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Spatiotemporal Overlap between the European Brown Hare and Its Potential Predators and Competitors

“…Despite this widespread introduction effort, brown hare populations have been declining in several parts of the European range, possibly because of environmental pollution, parasite-mediated competition with introduced species, and poaching [ 35 , 36 , 37 ]. Given the economic interests of this lagomorph as a popular game species, hunting agencies and associations have promoted studies on the habitat requirements of the brown hare, as well as programs of environmental improvement to keep the species at high densities [ 38 , 39 , 40 ]. Habitat structure and crop variety have been reported as important factors promoting local hare abundance [ 38 , 39 ].…”

“…Habitat structure and crop variety have been reported as important factors promoting local hare abundance [ 38 , 39 ]. Environmental improvement programs increasing habitat heterogeneity have succeeded in augmenting the local hare populations [ 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 ], even without predator culling [ 43 ]. Prey species may avoid predators by increasing their activity on the darkest nights, whereas carnivores may be more successful in hunting on bright moonlight nights [ 7 , 12 , 19 ].…”

Comparison of spotlighting monitoring data of European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) relative population densities with infrared thermography in agricultural landscapes in Northern Germany

“…However, since the 1970s a decline has started across Europe, mostly caused by the intensification of agriculture [10][11][12][13]. The development, especially the intensity of the decline, varies widely depending on the region [14,15]. The early population data of hares are based on hunting bags [11,16].…”

Survival rates on pre-weaning European hares (Lepus europaeus) in an intensively used agricultural area

“…The population density estimated by spotlight counting (Langbein et al 1999) averaged from 20 to 52 hares per km 2 in spring and 30 to 68 hares per km 2 in autumn. Compared with the federal average density of hares (Sliwinski et al 2019), the study area featured a medium to high density of hares. Hares are hunted once a year, mostly in the first 2 weeks of December.…”