Lepus timidus

Angerbjörn, Anders; Flux, John E. C.

doi:10.2307/3504302

Cited by 82 publications

(79 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The mountain hare is present all over the Scandinavian Peninsula, except for the southernmost part of Sweden (ANGERBJORN and FLUX 1995). Before the introduction of brown hares, the mountain hare also occurred in the south (LONNBERG 1908), but the brown hare most likely caused the extirpation of the mountain hare from this area (EKMAN 1922).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Applicability of Rabbit Microsatellite Primers for Studies of Hybridisation between an Introduced and a Native Hare Species

2004

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Introduced species may hybridise with relatives in the native fauna or flora and thereby compete for matings and transmit alien DNA. Such interference may contaminate unique genepools, disturb existing ecological balances and may ultimately result in the extinction of the native species. In Sweden, the introduced brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pall.) hybridise with the native mountain hare (L. timidus L.), both relatively common members of the present Swedish fauna. This hybridisation has resulted in the transmission of mitochondrial DNA from the mountain hare to the brown hare, but absence of species differences in karyotype and allozymes have prevented investigations of the amount of nuclear gene flow. More polymorphic genetic markers are needed to analyse evidence of hybridisation in the nuclear genome. The conservation of microsatellite loci across taxa usually enables PCR amplification of microsatellites in closely related species with the same primers. We have used five microsatellite primer pairs, developed for the European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.) to amplify microsatellites in the two species of hare in Sweden. The obtained allelic variation was used to construct a genetic distance tree based on the amount of shared alleles between all pairs of individuals (shared‐allele index). This method offered sufficient differences to arrange all individuals in two groups, one for each species. Identification of individual hybrids based on the number of alleles shared between the species is not possible with these five microsatellite markers.

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confidence: 99%

Applicability of Rabbit Microsatellite Primers for Studies of Hybridisation between an Introduced and a Native Hare Species

2004

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“…Mountain hares and reindeer differ in their use of food resources. Hares feed on tall shrubs mainly in winter, when these may be the only vegetation to protrude above the snow, and switch to graminoids and herbs in the summer (Pulliainen and Tunkkari 1987;Angerbjörn and Flux 1995;Hulbert et al 2001;Hiltunen 2003), whereas reindeer feed on leafed deciduous shrubs in spring and summer (Bergerud 1972;Skogland 1984;Ophof et al 2013). …”

Section: Study Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The mountain hare's American counterpart, the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus Erxleben), on the other hand, has been widely studied (Christie et al 2015) and is known to be able to cause extensive damage to shrub communities, especially during population highs (Wolff 1980;Smith et al 1988). Mountain hares generally experience less dramatic population fluctuations than the 10-year cycles of snowshoe hares in Alaska (Bryant et al 1989), but usually reach population peaks every 3-4 years in Fennoscandia (Angelstam et al 1985;Angerbjörn and Flux 1995;Elmhagen et al 2015) and can reasonably be assumed to exert considerable browsing pressure on shrubs during peaks.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of shrub browsing by mountain hare and reindeer in subarctic Sweden

Vowles

Molau

Lindstein

et al. 2016

Plant Ecology & Diversity

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Background: Climate warming has been causing an increase in tall shrub cover around the Arctic, however, mammalian herbivory has been shown to inhibit shrub expansion. Though the effect of reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and many other mammals has been widely studied in this context, the role of the mountain hare (Lepus timidus) in subarctic Scandinavia remains unknown. Aims: To quantify browsing from mountain hare and reindeer on tall shrubs in different vegetation types and to investigate differences in shrub preference between the two. Methods: In the summers of 2013 and 2014, we counted signs of browsing by hare and reindeer on tall shrub species in 31 study plots at three alpine locations in the Scandes range, Sweden. Results: Hare browsing was significantly more frequent than that by reindeer in two (dry-mesic heath and dry meadow) out of seven vegetation types studied. Reindeer browsing was significantly higher in the low herb meadow and Långfjället shrub heath. Two shrub species, Betula nana and Salix hastata, were significantly more browsed by hare, while reindeer browsing was significantly higher on S. phylicifolia and S. lapponum. Conclusions: Our results show that mountain hares can cause extensive damage to tall shrubs in the subarctic and may have a stronger impact on shrub communities than previously recognised.

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“…Adjacent transect lines were not sampled on the same day to minimise repeated counting of hares flushed from one transect line to the next. Hares are generally crepuscular, with increased activity at dusk and dawn (Angerbjo¨rn & Flux 1995). Therefore, to reduce bias in detection probability caused by diurnal changes in activity, we only carried out surveys between 08:30 and 15:00 (i.e.…”

Section: Population Density Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cross-sectioning by hand does not allow follicle health to be assessed. However, the large size of CL during gestation (7-11 mm in diameter (Angerbjo¨rn & Flux 1995, A. Knipe, S. Ramsay, S. Thirgood & S. Newey, unpubl. data) means that the CL can be counted as reliably in hand-sectioned ovaries as the stained ovary sections.…”

Section: Fecundity Estimatesmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effects of population density on the breeding performance of mountain hareLepus timidus

et al. 2013

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Feedback between population density and demographic parameters often plays a determining role in population dynamics, and it is particularly important in managing exploited or harvested populations. The mountain hare Lepus timidus is a traditional game species, which is hunted in Scotland for sport and population control. However, information about how population parameters respond to changes in population density is lacking. To assess how reproduction and juvenile recruitment change in response to population density, we sampled 189 hares (88 females and 101 males) from 10 independent private hunting estates. We found a significant negative correlation between population density and the proportion of juveniles recruited into the breeding population, along with a significant interaction between population density and sex, which revealed that the proportion of juvenile females recruited decreases more rapidly with population density compared to the proportion of male juveniles. However, we found no evidence of density-dependent fecundity. Our results suggest density-dependent compensation in this species, acting on recruitment, not fecundity, with rates of juvenile recruitment differing between the sexes. We conclude that the significant correlation between population density and juvenile recruitment may provide harvested populations with the potential for compensatory juvenile recruitment, although harvesting rates need to be accurately estimated to avoid the risk of overharvesting.

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Lepus timidus

Cited by 82 publications

References 4 publications

Applicability of Rabbit Microsatellite Primers for Studies of Hybridisation between an Introduced and a Native Hare Species

Applicability of Rabbit Microsatellite Primers for Studies of Hybridisation between an Introduced and a Native Hare Species

The impact of shrub browsing by mountain hare and reindeer in subarctic Sweden

The effects of population density on the breeding performance of mountain hareLepus timidus

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