Poster De Conférence Année : 2022

Studying vital ranges of European rabbits using GPS collars

Etude du domaine vital du lapin de Garenne via l'utilisation de colliers GPS

Résumé

The European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, a game species that was abundant in the past in France is decreasing since the 1950s. Despite this decline, a wildlife management conflict arose between hunters and farmers due to damages caused by the species to crops (cereals, vineyards, olive groves). The actual challenge is to combine a sustainable management of the species while limiting the risk of agricultural damages that it can cause. For this, the knowledge of the species behavior and of the size of its home range is essential. For a few years, the existence of light GPS collars suitable to the European rabbit allows to study these questions by obtaining accurate location data, without disturbance due to radio-tracking with an operator. We aimed to study the spatial behavior as well as the habitat use of wild rabbits in agricultural areas. During three years, we monitored 20 European rabbits equipped with GPS collars for several months in a rural area in the south of France. This allowed us to estimate their home range at night when wild rabbits are active. Here we present novel descriptive data about European rabbit spatial and territorial behavior. In particular, we compare home ranges of individuals between sexes and look at their evolution during successive months.
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Dates et versions

hal-04318083 , version 1 (01-12-2023)

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Domaine public

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  • HAL Id : hal-04318083 , version 1

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Mélanie Larue, Gilles Holé, Jérôme Letty, Stéphane Marchandeau. Studying vital ranges of European rabbits using GPS collars. World Lagomorph Conference, Jul 2022, Montpellier, France. 2022. ⟨hal-04318083⟩

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