The Population Trajectories Both of the Wild Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain: Implications for Conservation

Publikation: Beiträge in SammelwerkenKapitelbegutachtet

Authors

The Wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) are endemic species of the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian lynx is a specialist predator, listed as critically endangered, and rabbit represents the bulk of its diet as well as of many other Iberian predators. The decline of this emblematic predator has been recurrently explained by means of rabbit decline in Spain. A recent study has shown that wild rabbit populations have declined a 55% in three decades in the country. Habitat destruction and fragmentation by infrastructures, the abandonment of marginal crops, the intensification of farmland ecosystems, and the direct and continuous persecution by farmers to preserve their crops, have been claimed as the main factors that account for this dramatic decline. In parallel, the impact of both myxoma virus and rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) implied a relevant increase in rabbit mortality rates, while the species coped with a strong hunting pressure and an increase of competition with other wild herbivores. Nowadays, all these threats have not disappeared yet and conservation efforts have been very scarce. However, previous to rabbit decline, the area of distribution of the Iberian lynx had already suffered a reduction higher than 50%. This fact suggests that the extinction forces operating on Iberian lynx populations were other than rabbit population decline. The most probable hypothesis is that the main factors that accounted for this reduction were the direct persecution of the species and the massive non-selective predator control. Indeed, rabbit is abundant enough to maintain stable populations of Iberian lynx in many places, but the authorized predator control is usual and intensive preventing lynx establishment. In fact, Iberian lynx populations are now located in areas where predator control is not applied and rabbits are really scarce. The Conservation National Plan for the Iberian Lynx has focused on introducing rabbits in these marginal areas favoring the increase of Iberian lynx productivity. Its time to add as one of the main objectives of the lynx recovery plans the removal of the causes of non-natural mortality to guarantee the survival of dispersing individuals and the success of future reintroductions. Despite the minor relevance of rabbit recovery to Iberian lynx conservation plans, we advocate for a National Plan for rabbit recovery to coordinate the actions that guarantees the conservation of wild rabbit populations in Spain, and thus to preserve also this endemic key species of the Mediterranean ecosystems.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
TitelTrends in Environmental Science
Anzahl der Seiten28
VerlagNova Science Publishers, Inc.
Erscheinungsdatum01.01.2014
Seiten105-132
ISBN (Print)9781629488639, 978-162948860-8
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.01.2014

Zuletzt angesehen

Publikationen

  1. Mechanisms behind elevational plant species richness patterns revealed by a trait-based approach
  2. Reciprocal Relationship Between Proactive Personality and Work Characteristics
  3. Technologies of hospitality
  4. Resonance and reach
  5. Effects of land-use change on wetland ecosystem services
  6. Wer oder was bestimmt "Wirklichkeiten" in Organisationen?
  7. Learning Processes in the Early Development of Sustainable Niches
  8. 1. Methoden-Muster: Information
  9. Lebensalter
  10. § 15 Grundpflichten der Abfallbeseitigung
  11. Perfect
  12. Musik in Computerspielen
  13. Der adaptive Umgang mit Heterogenität in der Schule
  14. Immune cells contribute to myelin degeneration and axonopathic changes in mice overexpressing proteolipid protein in oligodendrocytes
  15. Prekär wählen, Protest leben! Ein Aufruf zur Neuverkettung
  16. Continuous pretreatment, hydrolysis, and fermentation of organic residues for the production of biochemicals
  17. § 289 Zinseszinsverbot
  18. Investigation of hot workability behavior of as-cast Mg–5Sn–2Ca (TX52) magnesium alloy through processing map
  19. Geschlecht in Raumwissenschaften und -planung
  20. Is the future still open? The mediating role of occupational future time perspective in the effects of career adaptability and aging experience on late career planning
  21. § 25 Übergangsregelung für Tarifverträge
  22. Technologie und Ästhetik.
  23. From the Love of Art to a Passion for Investment?
  24. § 16 Anforderungen an die Abfallbeseitigung
  25. Mit Märchen sprechen
  26. Atmospheric concentrations and air-sea exchanges of nonylphenol, tertiary octylphenol and nonylphenol monoethoxylate in the North Sea
  27. Feasibility of orbital friction stir welding on clad pipes of API X65 steel and Inconel 625
  28. F. LeRon Shults: Reforming Theological Anthropology. After the Philosophical Turn to Relationality. Grand Rapids u.a. 2003
  29. Career Services zur Steigerung von Karriere-Ressourcen
  30. Entrepreneurial University Archetypes
  31. On the impact of Honesty-Humility and a cue of being watched on cheating behavior