Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits

[EN] Wild rabbit is a very important species in the Mediterranean region. Its relevance is both ecological, being a keystone species —prey for several predators— and economic, as it is the most important and the most managed small game species among mammals in the Iberian Peninsula. Although both re...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Machado, R. D., Magalhães, P., Godinho, S., Santos, P.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2017
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/93942
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/93942
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus
Space use
Game management
Wildlife conservation
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spelling Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbitsMachado, R. D.Magalhães, P.Godinho, S.Santos, P.RabbitOryctolagus cuniculusSpace useGame managementWildlife conservation[EN] Wild rabbit is a very important species in the Mediterranean region. Its relevance is both ecological, being a keystone species —prey for several predators— and economic, as it is the most important and the most managed small game species among mammals in the Iberian Peninsula. Although both researchers and game managers claim restocking operations have moderate to low success, it is still one of the management measures often used by conservationists and hunters to recover or boost wild rabbit populations. The high mortality usually verified in the first days after release is the main limiting factor in rabbit restocking. Based on practical research, protocols have improved, pointing out good practices and suggestions to increase success. Adopting soft instead of hard-release protocols has been proven to increase short-term survival after liberation. Aware that purchased rabbits seldom display a quick adaptation to the field, we performed two restocking experiments with different conditions (acclimation period and park size) in order to compare the outcomes in terms of survival rate. The rabbit batch that experienced a longer acclimation period in a larger park showed higher survival rates, as well as more frequent and much larger spatial movements. These results suggest that proper conditions during acclimation may contribute to the success of wild rabbit restocking operations.We would like to thank the Associação de Caçadores de Querença for their valuable support with the fieldwork.Universitat Politècnica de ValènciaRepositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politècnica de València Riunet20172017-12-28journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501VoRhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/93942reponame:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valénciainstname:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2Reserva de todos los derechoshttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:riunet.upv.es:10251/939422026-06-13T07:49:27Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
title Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
spellingShingle Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
Machado, R. D.
Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus
Space use
Game management
Wildlife conservation
title_short Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
title_full Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
title_fullStr Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
title_full_unstemmed Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
title_sort Wild rabbit restocking: Suitable acclimation conditions foster adaptive behaviour and improve survival of captive reared rabbits
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Machado, R. D.
Magalhães, P.
Godinho, S.
Santos, P.
author Machado, R. D.
author_facet Machado, R. D.
Magalhães, P.
Godinho, S.
Santos, P.
author_role author
author2 Magalhães, P.
Godinho, S.
Santos, P.
author2_role author
author
author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politècnica de València Riunet
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus
Space use
Game management
Wildlife conservation
topic Rabbit
Oryctolagus cuniculus
Space use
Game management
Wildlife conservation
description [EN] Wild rabbit is a very important species in the Mediterranean region. Its relevance is both ecological, being a keystone species —prey for several predators— and economic, as it is the most important and the most managed small game species among mammals in the Iberian Peninsula. Although both researchers and game managers claim restocking operations have moderate to low success, it is still one of the management measures often used by conservationists and hunters to recover or boost wild rabbit populations. The high mortality usually verified in the first days after release is the main limiting factor in rabbit restocking. Based on practical research, protocols have improved, pointing out good practices and suggestions to increase success. Adopting soft instead of hard-release protocols has been proven to increase short-term survival after liberation. Aware that purchased rabbits seldom display a quick adaptation to the field, we performed two restocking experiments with different conditions (acclimation period and park size) in order to compare the outcomes in terms of survival rate. The rabbit batch that experienced a longer acclimation period in a larger park showed higher survival rates, as well as more frequent and much larger spatial movements. These results suggest that proper conditions during acclimation may contribute to the success of wild rabbit restocking operations.
publishDate 2017
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2017
2017-12-28
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
VoR
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_970fb48d4fbd8a85
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/93942
url https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/93942
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Reserva de todos los derechos
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2
Reserva de todos los derechos
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universitat Politècnica de València
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Universitat Politècnica de València
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
instname:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
reponame_str RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
collection RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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