Exploration forays in juvenile European hares (Lepus europaeus): dispersal preludes or hunting-induced troubles?

Abstract

BackgroundMovements of animals have important consequences, at both the individual and population levels. Due to its important implications in the evolutionary dynamics of populations, dispersal is one of the most studied types of movement. In contrast, non-permanent extra home-range movements are often paid less attention. However, these movements may occur in response to important biological processes such as mating or predation avoidance. In addition, these forays are often preludes to permanent dispersal, because they may help individuals gain cues about their surroundings prior to settlement in a new place.In the European hare, exploration forays occur predominantly in juveniles, the time at which most hares disperse. In France, the timing of dispersal also overlaps with the hare hunting period. However, the determinants of such behaviour have not yet been studied. Herein, we investigate whether these non-permanent explorations are dispersal attempts/preludes or, in contrast, whether they are triggered by other factors such as disturbances related to hunting.ResultsContrary to natal dispersal, we did not find strong male-bias in the propensity to engage in explorations. Exploration forays occurred less in juveniles than in adults and later in the season than natal dispersal. This was the case both for philopatric movements and for movements occurring after dispersal and settlement. These movements were also more likely to occur during the hare hunting period and the mating season.ConclusionsWe suggest that explorations in hares are triggered by factors other than dispersal and that hares may respond to hunting disturbances. Overall, we emphasize the need to account for human-related predation risk as a factor driving space-use in harvested species.

Living on the edge - circadian habitat usage in pre-weaning European hares (Lepus europaeus) in an intensively used agricultural area

“…In adult European hares, changes in spatial distribution and movement rates due to increasing predation risks have been observed [37, 61]. A human-related predation that may affect species behavior and distribution in various ways is described for hunting [62], and one can assume the same for any kind of manipulating animals.…”

Early social complexity influences social behaviour but not social trajectories in a cooperatively breeding cichlid fish

“…In addition, exploration can also be the result of different environmental pressures. In European hares ( Lepus europaeus ) , exploration is probably triggered by predation rather than by dispersal [ 58 ]. In line with these findings, it is possible that exploring novel shelters adjacent to the home territory (like in the exploration task) and dispersing to settle with a mate in a new territory (like in the dispersal task) represent two entirely different and unrelated ecological contexts for N. pulcher .…”

Az apróvad, mint az agrár-környezetgazdálkodási programok hatásindikátora – módszertani áttekintés

“…Korábbi külföldi-és hazai kutatások alapján a mezei nyúl mozgáskörzetének átlagos mérete 40 hektár (KUNST et al 2001, FARAGÓ 2006a, ANGELICI et al 1999, PESCHEL et al 2004, KUNST et al 2001, FISHER ésTAGAND 2012, FERRETTI et al 2010, RÜHE és HOHMANN 2004, MISIOROWSKA és WASILEVSKI 2008. Ez alapján a mezei nyúl mozgáskörzet-rádiusza átlagosan 356 m, melynek a kétszerese 712 m, melyet a könnyebb számítások végett, 720 mre kerekítettünk fel (AVRIL et al 2014). Szempont volt továbbá, hogy a kontrollterületek határai lehetőleg minél kevésbé érintkezzenek erdős területtel, árokkal, csatornával, mivel ezek torzíthatják a felvételezések eredményeit.…”