Topic
Brown hare
About: Brown hare is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 313 publications have been published within this topic receiving 5236 citations.
Papers published on a yearly basis
Papers
TL;DR: In this article, the authors identified factors associated with high and low hare numbers throughout Europe, to determine which could have caused population declines, but no clear consensus has been reached as to the relative importance of each of these factors.
Abstract: 1. European hares Lepus europaeus have declined throughout Europe since the 1960s. Possible reasons for this include agricultural intensification and changes in climate and predator numbers, but no clear consensus has been reached as to the relative importance of each of these. We aimed to identify factors associated with high and low hare numbers throughout Europe, to determine which could have caused population declines.
2. Results of 77 research papers from 12 European countries were summarized. Relationships between hare density and demographics and habitat, climate, hunting and predator variables were examined and quantified where possible. Temporal changes in factors identified as being associated with high or low numbers of hares were then examined to see if they could explain population declines.
3. Data from pastural habitats were limited, but densities of hares were low. Arable habitats had higher densities than mixed areas in spring, unless farming was intensive in which case densities were similar. In autumn the two habitats had similar densities. Field size, temperature, precipitation and hunting had no effect on density throughout Europe. Fecundity was affected by climate.
4. Arable land, various crops, fallow habitat and temperature were positively associated, and monoculture, precipitation and predators negatively associated with hare abundance. The relationship of field size, pasture and woodland with abundance depended on spatial scale.
5. Habitat changes caused by agricultural intensification are the ultimate cause of hare population declines. Effects of changes in climate or predator numbers are magnified by the loss of high-quality year-round forage and cover. Further research is required on how habitat changes affect fecundity and survival, and to identify which parameters have the greatest impact on population numbers. Farmland management policies that target the re-establishment of some of the habitat diversity lost within fields, farms and landscapes will help to reverse the decline of the European hare.
294 citations
Book•
1 Jan 2008
TL;DR: The author examines the impact of weather effects on Reproduction, Survival, and Body Mass of European Rabbits in a Temperate Zone Habitat and the management of Endangered Lagomorphs.
Abstract: Palaeontology and Evolution.- to the Lagomorpha.- Prehistoric and Historic Artificial Dispersal of Lagomorphs on the Mediterranean Islands.- The Lagomorph Fossil Record and the Origin of the European Rabbit.- Inferring the Evolutionary History of the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) from Molecular Markers.- Phylogenetic Aspects of Nuclear and Mitochondrial Gene-Pool Characteristics of South and North African Cape Hares (Lepus capensis) and European Hares (Lepus europaeus).- Population Ecology and Dynamics.- The World of Pikas.- When? Where? and for How Long? Census Design Considerations for an Alpine Lagomorph, the Collared Pika (Ochotona collaris).- Weather Effects on Reproduction, Survival, and Body Mass of European Rabbits in a Temperate Zone Habitat.- Ecosystem Engineering Effects of European Rabbits in a Mediterranean Habitat.- Forest-Fire Regime: The Missing Link to Understand Snowshoe Hare Population Fluctuations?.- Introduced Lagomorphs as a Threat to "Native" Lagomorphs: The Case of the Eastern Cottontail (Sylvilagus floridanus) in Northern Italy.- Testing Multiple Hypotheses to Identify Causes of the Decline of a Lagomorph Species: The New England Cottontail as a Case Study.- Physiology and Behaviour.- Many Common Odour Cues and (at Least) One Pheromone Shaping the Behaviour of Young Rabbits.- Mother-Young and Within-Litter Relations in the European Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus.- Fertility and Infertility in the European Hare Lepus europaeus in Australia.- A Review of Competition between Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and Hares (Lepus europaeus).- Diseases.- European Brown Hare Syndrome.- How Many Caliciviruses are there in Rabbits? A Review on RHDV and Correlated Viruses.- Geographic and Seasonal Variation in the Impact of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease on European Rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, and Rabbit Damage in Australia.- Conservation and Management.- Conservation of Endangered Lagomorphs.- Managing the European Rabbit: Converging Interests Between Australian Research for Rabbit Control and European Research for their Conservation.- Improving Rabbit Restocking Success: A Review of Field Experiments in France.- Recovering the Endangered Riparian Brush rabbit (Sylvilagus bachmani riparius): Reproduction and Growth in Confinement and Survival after Translocation.- Conservation of Critically Endangered Lagomorphs: The Tehuantepec Jackrabbit (Lepus flavigularis) as an Example.- A Review of the Biology and Conservation of the Amami Rabbit (Pentalagus furnessi).- Concluding Remarks.- Overview of Lagomorph Research: What we have learned and what we still need to do.
165 citations
TL;DR: The results indicate that interspecific hybridization between the two species occurs in wild populations of the brown hare and mountain hare in Scandinavia.
Abstract: If interspecific hybrids are fertile and backcross to either parental species, transmission of mitochondrial DNA over the species barrier can occur. To investigate if such transmission has occurred between the brown hare Lepus europeus Pall and the mountain hare L. timidus L. in Scandinavia, an analysis of genetic variation in mitochondrial DNA from 36 hares, collected from 15 localities, was performed. Sequence divergence of mtDNA between species was estimated at 8 ± 1% (SD). Intraspecific mtDNA sequence divergence varied between 0.09 and 0.38% in brown hares and 0.10 and 1.44% in mountain hares. In six out of 18 brown hares examined, two different haplotypes of mountain hare origin were detected, demonstrating a transmission of mtDNA haplotypes from mountain hares to brown hares. The results indicate that interspecific hybridization between the two species occurs in wild populations.
125 citations
TL;DR: The European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) population has been shown to be in decline in the UK since the introduction of paraquat spray as mentioned in this paper, which may be attributed to changes in farmland management practices, resulting in the loss of crop/landscape diversity which affects nutrition.
118 citations
TL;DR: The genetic analysis presented here provides a framework for designing proper conservation and management guidelines for the brown hare and supports the hypothesis of several isolated Late Pleistocene populations.
112 citations
Related Topics (5)
Performance Metrics
| Year | Papers |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 |
| 2020 | 6 |
| 2019 | 15 |
| 2018 | 17 |
| 2017 | 10 |
| 2016 | 9 |