Experimental Ecological Studies on a Subalpine Rabbit Population. 2. The Effect of Sodium and Nutritional Supplementation on Breeding and Physiological Condition.

1982 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 451 ◽  
Author(s):  
BJ Richardson ◽  
PG Osborne
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Physiological Condition ◽  
Nutritional Supplementation ◽  
Protein Deficiency ◽  
Ecological Studies ◽  
Rate Of Growth ◽  
Rabbit Population

Part 1 (ibid. pp. 443-450) was not abstracted. 2. Supplements of salt, grain or both offered to wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in ACT, Australia, had no effect on length of breeding season and although the condition of the young rabbits improved they still differed in adrenal histology, incidence of anaemia and rate of growth from those in other parts of Australia. The cause of the pathology was not known, though protein deficiency was suggested as the most likely explanation.

Observations on the dispersal of the European rabbit flea, Spilopsyllus cuniculi (Dale), through a natural population of wild rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.)

1971 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 129 ◽  
Author(s):  
RT Williams ◽  
I Parer
Keyword(s):  
Natural Population ◽  
Breeding Season ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
European Rabbit ◽  
Previous Suggestion ◽  
Rabbit Population ◽  
Data Support ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
Time Away

The dispersal of the European rabbit flea, S. cuniculi, through a population of wild rabbits in a 550-acre enclosure was studied. It took 18 months (June 1968 until November 1969), and two rabbit breeding seasons before S, cuniculi was found throughout the population. The number of fleas observed on individual rabbits was much higher during each rabbit bieeding season than in the non-breeding periods. In most cases, the spread of fleas into the various social groups of rabbits occurred during the rabbit breeding season, and appeared to take the form of fleas from an infested group of rabbits being dispersed to a neighbouring uninfested one. This dispersal of S, cuniculi coincided with the dispersal of juvenile rabbits, which were most heavily infested with rabbit fleas at the end of each rabbit breeding season. Three instances of fleas being dispersed to non-neighbouring social groups of rabbits were observed, and these occurred between the 1968 and 1969 rabbit breeding seasons. It is possible that in these cases the fleas were introduced by the dispersal of adult rabbits from warrens infested with S, cuniculi. The data support a previous suggestion that these fleas, on a non-breeding rabbit population, spend most of their time away from the host. in the rabbit burrows.

scholarly journals Myxomatosis: the occurrence of antibody to a soluble antigen of myxoma virus in wild rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.), in Victoria, Australia

1978 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. W. Edmonds ◽  
Rosamond C. H. Shepherd ◽  
I. F. Nolan
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Infection Rate ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Myxoma Virus ◽  
European Rabbit ◽  
Soluble Antigen ◽  
Relative Timing ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Semi Arid

SummaryThe occurrence of antibody to myxoma virus in wild rabbits following epizootics is highest in the semi-arid north-west of Victoria and lowest in temperate southern Victoria. Occurrence ranges up to about 90% in the north-west and to about 70% in the south except on the Western Plains where epizootics are rare and antibody occurrence seldom exceeds 30%.The establishment of the European rabbit flea may be changing the pattern of occurrence of antibody in the north-west by causing spring outbreaks of myxomatosis. It is suggested that the effects of the replacement of a simple recurring system of epizootic and breeding season several months apart by the occurrence of myxomatosis twice in the same year, once coincident with the breeding season, will be complex. The occurrence of detectable antibody may be less dependent on the infection rate and may be dependent to some extent on the relative timing of spring myxomatosis and the breeding season.

Population Fluctuations and Reproduction of Rabbits in a Pastoral Area on the Coast North of Carnarvon, W. A.

1983 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 97 ◽  
Author(s):  
DR King ◽  
SH Wheeler ◽  
GL Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
North West ◽  
The North ◽  
Pastoral Area ◽  
Average Rainfall ◽  
Summer Rain

The population fluctuations and reproductive biology of rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.), were studied in a coastal pastoral area in the north-west of Western Australia between 1974 and 1981. Numbers were highest in late 1975-early 1976 and declined during a period of below-average rainfall in 1976-79, but were still found in all landforms. The breeding season was more regular than that of rabbits in other pastoral areas, and appeared to be a response to winter rains which were relatively predictable in timing, if not amount. Successful summer breeding also followed heavy summer rain. There appears to be no opportunity for cost-effective control of rabbits in the area by techniques currently available, as even when numbers are low the rabbits are widespread.

Obsevations on the behaviour of the european rabbit flea, Spilopsullus cuniculi (Dale), ona natural population of wild rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus (L.), in Australia

1971 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
RT Williams
Keyword(s):  
Population Size ◽  
Natural Population ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
European Rabbit ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Rabbit Population ◽  
Group A

The behaviour of S, cuniculi was studied on a natural rabbit population present on an island in Lake Bathurst, N.S.W. Four individually marked groups of fleas and an unmarked control group, a total of 454 in all, were released onto five rabbits trapped at one location. Surveys of the rabbits and their fleas were carried out during the first, second, eighth, and fourteenth weeks after the fleas were released. Rabbit breeding before the fourteenth week resulted in an increase, due to breeding, in the number of unmarked fleas recovered at that time. During weeks one, two, and eight, 316 rabbits, equivalent to three times the estimated population size, were examined for fleas, and only 77 were recovered. Of these, 64 (88 %) were found on rabbits trapped within 25 yd of the point at which they were released. Nine rabbits resident in this area accounted for 52 of these 64 fleas, and there were frequent changes in the degree and composition of the infestations of these rabbits. Two rabbits upon which fleas had been released had lost 94 and 96 % of their fleas within 10 days. It is suggested that these results indicate that many fleas were living freely within the rabbit burrows in the immediate area in which they were released.

scholarly journals Long-term decline of the European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in south-western Spain

2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sacramento Moreno ◽  
Juan F. Beltrán ◽  
Irene Cotilla ◽  
Beatriz Kuffner ◽  
Rafael Laffite ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Population Trends ◽  
Hemorrhagic Disease ◽  
Lynx Lynx ◽  
Wild Rabbit ◽  
Doñana National Park ◽  
Lynx Pardinus ◽  
Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease ◽  
Rabbit Population ◽  
Important Prey

The European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is a species native to the Iberian Peninsula, where it was once extremely abundant. It is considered the most important prey item for the peninsula’s assemblage of Mediterranean vertebrate predators, which includes two endangered specialist rabbit feeders, the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti) and the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus). However, rabbit population trends in Spain have not been accurately documented. In the present study, we analysed trends in a population of European rabbits monitored over 23 years in the Doñana National Park, home to one of the most diverse and densest predator communities in Europe. Rabbit abundance and population trends were estimated using roadside counts. Results show that the rabbit population declined sharply by ~60% during the first wave of epizootic rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) in 1990. Since then, rabbit numbers have declined at a relatively constant rate and the species has become progressively scarcer in the area. The current population is less than 10% of that before the arrival of RHD. However, after the RHD epizootic we observed increasing intra-annual population recruitment. We hypothesise that density-dependent factors caused by enzootic viral diseases (myxomatosis, RHD) and higher predation of rabbits are the main factors preventing recovery of rabbit numbers. The effects of a decline in the prey species on the ecology of sympatric rabbit predators are discussed, and measures to improve ongoing rabbit conservation efforts are suggested.

scholarly journals Innate resistance to myxomatosis in wild rabbits in England

1977 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 411-416 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Ross ◽  
M. F. Sanders
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Oryctolagus Cuniculus ◽  
Mortality Rates ◽  
Myxoma Virus ◽  
Considerable Degree ◽  
Survival Times ◽  
Innate Resistance ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Rabbit Population

SUMMARYWild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from one study area in England have been used over a period of 11 years to investigate the possible appearance of innate resistance to myxomatosis. Rabbits of 4–6 weeks old were captured alive, retained in the laboratory until at least 4 months old, and then infected with a type of myxoma virus which kills 90–95% of laboratory rabbits. Observations were made of symptoms, mortality rate and survival times.In the first 4 years of the study (1966–9), mortality rates were not significantly different from those of laboratory rabbits, although survival times of wild rabbits were appreciably longer. In 1970, the mortality rate amongst wild rabbits was 59%, in 1974 it was 17%, and in 1976 it was 20%, thus showing that a considerable degree of inherited resistance to myxomatosis has developed.The types of myxoma virus most commonly isolated from wild rabbits in Great Britain in recent years have been those which cause 70–95% mortality in laboratory rabbits. Therefore, if the degree of innate resistance demonstrated is widespread in Great Britain, there are serious implications regarding the size of the rabbit population, because myxomatosis has been an important factor in holding rabbit numbers at a relatively low level.

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