Density and habitat use of sympatric Brown hares and European rabbits in a Mediterranean farmland area of Tuscany (Central Italy)

摘要: Use of habitat by sympatric Brown hare (Lepus europaeus) and wild European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) was investigated in a farmland area western Tuscany from 1999 to 2011. We used spotlight counts winter indirect surveys on faecal pellet spring–summer. The density increased during the study period, whereas population crashed 2010 after Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease (RHD) outbreak.The results use type differed between observations obtained census carried out using counts.The two lagomorph populations showed great overlap; however, rabbits seem live at shorter distance permanent cover such as hedgerows woods prefer uncultivated fields crops olive tree groves that offer more protection avian predators. hares open ar...