Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T10:16:10.346Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Land-use changes as a critical factor for long-term wild rabbit conservation in the Iberian Peninsula

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 August 2010

MIGUEL DELIBES-MATEOS ,
MIGUEL ÁNGEL FARFÁN ,
JESÚS OLIVERO  and
JUAN MARIO VARGAS
MIGUEL DELIBES-MATEOS*
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC-UCLM-JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
MIGUEL ÁNGEL FARFÁN
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain Biogea Consultores, C/Navarro Ledesma, 243, 29010 Málaga, Spain
JESÚS OLIVERO
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
JUAN MARIO VARGAS
Affiliation:
Departamento de Biología Animal, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
*
*Correspondence: Dr Miguel Delibes-Mateos Tel: +34 926295450 Fax: +34 926295451 e-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), a multifunctional keystone species in the Iberian Peninsula, have drastically declined over past decades. Rabbit decline has been frequently attributed to the arrival of two viral diseases. However, decline was apparently ongoing before the arrival of the diseases, as a consequence of habitat loss and fragmentation. In this paper, the effect on rabbit populations of land-use changes during recent decades in Andalusia (southern Spain) is analysed. Areas favourable for rabbits both at present and during the 1960s are identified, and the environmental and land-use factors that determine these areas established. In areas where the favourability for rabbits has changed during recent decades, main land use changes are assessed to identify possible factors explaining rabbit favourability in these areas. Areas favourable to rabbits are currently determined by factors similar to those during the 1960s; these areas have undergone geographic changes in recent decades, apparently as a consequence of land-use changes in Andalusia. The percentages of the variables that were positively associated with rabbit favourability in both models (current and 1960s) have declined in Andalusia as a whole, and in areas where rabbit favourability has decreased; hence environments suitable for rabbits have become impoverished. Conversely, in both models, environments suitable for rabbits increased in municipalities, where rabbit favourability also increased. The preservation of rabbit-friendly habitats should be a priority for the conservation of this key species in the western Mediterranean.

Keywords

agricultural intensificationfavourability functionhabitat lossland abandonmentOryctolagus cuniculus
Type
Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 37 , Issue 2 , June 2010 , pp. 169 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bárcena, S., Real, R., Olivero, J. & Vargas, J.M. (2004) Latitudinal trends in breeding waterbird species richness in Europe and their environmental correlates. Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 1997–2014.Google Scholar
Boag, B. (1987) Reduction in numbers of the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) due to changes in agricultural practices and land use. Crop Protection 6: 347–351.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borcard, D., Legendre, P. & Drapeau, P. (1992) Partialling out the spatial component of ecological variation. Ecology 73: 1045–1055.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvete, C. (2006) Modelling the effect of population dynamics on the impact of rabbit hemorrhagic disease. Conservation Biology 20: 1232–1241.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Calvete, C., Estrada, R., Angulo, E. & Cabezas-Ruiz, S. (2004) Habitat factors related to wild rabbit conservation in an agricultural landscape. Landscape Ecology 19: 531–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calvete, C., Pelayo, E. & Sampietro, J. (2006) Habitat factors related to wild rabbit population trends after the initial impact of rabbit haemorrhagic disease. Wildlife Research 33: 467–474.Google Scholar
Cartron, J.L.E., Kelly, J.F. & Brown, J.H. (2000) Constraints on patterns of covariation: a case study in strigid owls. Oikos 90: 381–389.Google Scholar
Delibes-Mateos, M., Delibes, M., Ferreras, P. & Villafuerte, R. (2008 a) Key role of European rabbits in the conservation of the western Mediterranean Basin Hotspot. Conservation Biology 22: 1106–1117.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Delibes-Mateos, M., Farfán, M.A., Olivero, J., Márquez, A.L. & Vargas, J.M. (2009 a) Long-term changes in game species over a long period of transformation in the Iberian Mediterranean landscapes. Environmental Management 43: 1256–1268.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delibes-Mateos, M., Ferreras, F. & Villafuerte, R. (2009 b) European rabbit population trends and associated factors: a review of the situation in the Iberian Peninsula. Mammal Review 39: 124–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delibes-Mateos, M., Ramírez, E., Ferreras, P. & Villafuerte, R. (2008 b) Translocations as a risk for the conservation of European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus lineages. Oryx 42: 259–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delibes-Mateos, M., Redpath, S.M., Angulo, E., Ferreras, P. & Villafuerte, R. (2007) Rabbits as a keystone species in southern Europe. Biological Conservation 137: 149–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farfán, M.A., Guerrero, J.C., Real, R., Barbosa, A.M. & Vargas, J.M. (2004) Caracterización del aprovechamiento cinegético de los mamíferos en Andalucía. Galemys 16: 41–59.Google Scholar
Farfán, M.A., Vargas, J.M., Guerrero, J.C., Barbosa, A.M., Duarte, J. & Real, R. (2008) Distribution modelling of wild rabbit hunting yields in its original area (S Iberian Peninsula). Italian Journal of Zoology 75: 161–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farr, T.G. & Kobrick, M. (2000) Shuttle Radar Topography Mission produces a wealth of data. EOS Transactions of the American Geophysical Union 81: 583–585.Google Scholar
Fernández, J.M. & Ruiz de Azua, N. (2009) Historical dynamics of a declining wolf population: persecution vs. prey reduction. European Journal of Wildlife Research (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández, N. (2005) Spatial patterns in European rabbit abundance after a population collapse. Landscape Ecology 20: 897–910.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fernández-Alés, R., Martín, A., Ortega, F. & Ales, E.E. (1992) Recent changes in landscape structure and function in a Mediterranean region of SW of Spain (1950–1984). Landscape Ecology 7: 3–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gálvez-Bravo, L., Belliure, J. & Rebollo, S. (2009) European rabbits as ecosystem engineers: warrens increase lizard density and diversity. Biodiversity and Conservation 18: 869–885.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gortázar, C., Herrero, J., Villafuerte, R. & Marco, J. (2000) Historical examination of the status of large mammals in Aragon, Spain. Mammalia 64: 411–422.Google Scholar
Hosmer, D.W. & Lemeshow, S. (1989) Applied Logistic Regression. New York, NY, USA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Junta de Andalucía (1956) Mapa de usos y coberturas vegetales del suelo de Andalucía 1956. Sevilla, Spain: Consejería de Medio Ambiente.Google Scholar
Junta de Andalucía (1999) Mapa de usos y coberturas vegetales del suelo de Andalucía 1999. Sevilla, Spain: Consejería de Medio Ambiente.Google Scholar
Legendre, P. (1993) Spatial autocorrelation: trouble or new paradigm? Ecology 74: 1659–1673.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Legendre, P. & Legendre, L. (1998) Numerical Ecology. Second English Edition. Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Elsevier Science.Google Scholar
Lombardi, L., Fernández, N., Moreno, S. & Villafuerte, R. (2003). Habitat-related differences in rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) abundance, distribution and activity. Journal of Mammalogy 84: 26–36.Google Scholar
Ministerio de Agricultura (1968) Mapa Cinegético Nacional. Madrid, Spain: Ministerio de Agricultura.Google Scholar
Moreno, S. & Villafuerte, R. (1995) Traditional management of scrubland for the conservation of rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus and their predators in Doñana National Park, Spain. Biological Conservation 73: 81–85.Google Scholar
Muñoz, A.R. & Real, R. (2006) Assessing the potential range expansion of the exotic monk parakeet in Spain. Diversity and Distribution 12: 656–665.Google Scholar
Piorno, V. (2006) Gestión cinegética y conservación del conejo de monte. Ph.D. thesis, Universidad de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.Google Scholar
Real, R., Barbosa, A.M. & Vargas, J.M. (2006) Obtaining environmental favourability functions from logistic regression. Environmental and Ecological Statistics 13: 237–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rojas, A.B., Cotilla, I., Real, R., Palomo, L.J. (2001) Determinación de las áreas probables de distribución de los mamíferos terrestres en la provincia de Málaga a partir de las presencias conocidas. Galemys 13: 217–229.Google Scholar
Smith, A.T. (2008) Conservation of endangered lagomorphs. In: Lagomorph Biology: Evolution, Ecology and Conservation, ed. Alves, P.C. & Hackländer, K., pp. 297–315. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
US Geological Survey (1996) GTOPO30. Land Processes Distributed Archive Center [www document]. URL http://edcdaac.usgs.gov/gtopo30/gtopo30.aspGoogle Scholar
Vargas, J.M., Farfán, M.A., Guerrero, J.C., Barbosa, A.M. & Real, R. (2007) Geographical and environmental correlates of big and small game in Andalusia (southern Spain). Wildlife Research 34: 498–506.Google Scholar
Vargas, J.M., Guerrero, J.C., Farfán, M.A., Barbosa, A.M. & Real, R. (2006) Land use and environmental factors affecting red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) hunting yields in Southern Spain. European Journal of Wildlife Research 52: 188–195.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Villafuerte, R., Viñuela, J. & Blanco, J.C. (1998) Extensive predator persecution caused by population crash in a game species: the case of red kites and rabbits in Spain. Biological Conservation 84: 181–188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Virgós, E., Cabezas-Díaz, S. & Lozano, J. (2007) Is the wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) a threatened species in Spain? Sociological constraints in the conservation of species. Biodiversity and Conservation 16: 3489–3504.Google Scholar
Ward, D. (2005) Reversing rabbit decline: one of the biggest challenges for nature conservation in Spain and Portugal. Technical report. World Conservation Union, Gland, Switzerland [www document]. URL http://www.ualberta.ca/~dhik/lgs/report_lynx_rabit.pdfGoogle Scholar