Influence of herbaceous cover, shelter and land cover structure on wild rabbit abundance in NW Portugal

Carvalho, José C.; Gomes, Pedro T.

doi:10.1007/bf03192509

Cited by 23 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Along each transect, we randomly selected points in proportion to the area to be sampled (4 points per km 2 area). On each point, a 4 Â 5 m rectangle (termed 'plot' hereafter) was censused for the presence of mountain nyala pellets (Carvalho & Gomes, 2004) and the number of pellet groups were counted. A total of 1515 plots in mountain nyala areas and 1553 plots in areas without mountain nyala were sampled.…”

Section: Pellet Sampling Along Line Transectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating population size and habitat suitability for mountain nyala in areas with different protection status

Atickem

Loe

Langangen

et al. 2011

Animal Conservation

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Many species of large herbivores are declining in numbers as a consequence of direct exploitation or habitat loss. In the Ethiopian highlands, rapid human population growth has resulted in an expansion of human settlements and farmland, threatening many endemic species such as the mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni. Despite being listed as an endangered species, the mountain nyala is still the most important trophy hunting species in Ethiopia. We counted faecal pellets of mountain nyala within plots distributed along transects to estimate population size and identify key environmental variables associated with the presence of faecal pellet groups. The total mountain nyala population was estimated at 3756 (95% confidence intervals: 2506-7135) individuals, mainly occupying woodlands while avoiding human developments (agriculture and settlements). The total suitable area was estimated at 8333 km 2 . Only 31.6% of the total population lived within a national park, while 53.5% of the population inhabited two controlled hunting areas in the eastern mountains. Abundance was 3.7 times higher in areas patrolled by wardens, regardless of being in a national park or hunting area, suggesting that formal protection must be followed by surveillance to avoid poaching and habitat destruction. We found no negative correlation between pellet abundance and trophy hunting. Yet, it is too early to conclude that trophy hunting is sustainable as it has only recently been initiated in the studied populations.

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Section: Pellet Sampling Along Line Transectsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimating population size and habitat suitability for mountain nyala in areas with different protection status

Atickem

Loe

Langangen

et al. 2011

Animal Conservation

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“…Variables were designated according to the same nomenclature used in Fragstats. Due to the association of interspersed open/shelter areas with rabbit abundance (Villafuerte and Moreno 1997;Carvalho and Gomes 2004), we estimated, at the landscape level, the contrast-weighted edge density of the cultivated and cover areas, with the latter consisting of the high and low cover areas combined. At the patch level, we estimated the mean area for each kind of patch, i.e.…”

Section: Environmental Variablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat factors related to wild rabbit population trends after the initial impact of rabbit haemorrhagic disease

Calvete

Pelayo²,

Sampietro³

2006

Wildl. Res.

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The European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is an introduced pest species in Australia and New Zealand. Rabbits have a devastating negative impact on agricultural production and biodiversity in these countries, and Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) is currently included in control strategies for rabbit populations. On the other hand, the European wild rabbit is a key native prey species in the Iberian Peninsula. Since the arrival of RHD, however, rabbit populations have undergone dramatic decreases and several predator species at risk of extinction are currently dependent on the rabbit population density. Therefore, from the point of view of biodiversity conservation, evaluating habitat correlates and trends of rabbit populations after the first RHD epizootic is of great interest to improve the long-term control or promotion of wild rabbit populations. We estimated the relationship between habitat factors and long-term population trends as well as the relationships between habitat factors and rabbit abundance 2 and 14 years after the arrival of RHD in several Iberian rabbit populations. We observed that only 26% of surveyed populations seemed to experience an increase in rabbit abundance over the last 12 years and that this increase was higher in the low-rabbit-abundance areas of l992, leading to high rabbit abundance in 2004. Our results suggested that short- and long-term impacts of RHD were related to habitat quality. The initial impact of RHD was higher in more suitable habitats, but increasing long-term population trends were positively related to good habitat quality.

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“…Anyway, we should be cautious when interpreting our results and further studies would be needed under similar conditions. We were working in low-density areas according to those found by Carvalho and Gomes (2004), with similar mean pellet counts. The seasonal pattern in rabbit abundance found in our study area is similar to that described by other authors (Beltran 1991;Moreno et al 2004) in Doñana National Park (southern Spain): maximum values were reached in spring and early summer coinciding with the breeding peak, while values decrease in autumn and winter.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Is habitat management an effective tool for wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) population reinforcement?

2008

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Wild rabbit scarcity in Spain is a serious problem due to its economic and ecological value; thus, management techniques to reinforce their populations are being implemented. Translocations are traditionally applied but high short-term mortality by predation makes them unsuccessful and increases their biological cost. An alternative to translocation would be to strengthen local reduced populations through habitat management (building artificial warrens and increasing food availability). Here, we test this method to determine its efficiency as an exportable protocol to recover wild rabbit populations. We compare two areas with and without artificial warrens and increased food availability and assess relative rabbit abundance by means of pellet counts. Results show that, during the 2 years following habitat management, rabbit numbers increased in the experimental plot in contrast to the not managed one, suggesting its effectiveness to reinforce low-density rabbit populations.

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Influence of herbaceous cover, shelter and land cover structure on wild rabbit abundance in NW Portugal

Cited by 23 publications

References 18 publications

Estimating population size and habitat suitability for mountain nyala in areas with different protection status

Estimating population size and habitat suitability for mountain nyala in areas with different protection status

Habitat factors related to wild rabbit population trends after the initial impact of rabbit haemorrhagic disease

Is habitat management an effective tool for wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) population reinforcement?

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