2008
DOI: 10.1017/s0030605308006984
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Translocations as a risk for the conservation of European wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus lineages

Abstract: Population units that merit separate management and are of conservation concern have been called evolutionary significant units. Two divergent lineages of the European rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus occur naturally in Spain, with a well-marked geographical distribution. We analysed the frequency and importance of rabbit translocations in central-southern Spain and whether this practice, carried out by hunters and conservationists, could cause the mixture of two clearly different evolutionary significant units. W… Show more

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Cited by 55 publications
(52 citation statements)
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“…To avoid the risk of subspecies mixing when farmed wild rabbits are translocated and released into the wild (Delibes-Mateos et al, 2008), wild rabbit farmers should increase their efforts to clarify the subspecies in their breeding stocks. This will undoubtedly increase customer confidence in the suitability of the rabbits for the area to be restocked.…”
Section: Breeder Replacement Practicesmentioning
confidence: 99%
See 1 more Smart Citation
“…To avoid the risk of subspecies mixing when farmed wild rabbits are translocated and released into the wild (Delibes-Mateos et al, 2008), wild rabbit farmers should increase their efforts to clarify the subspecies in their breeding stocks. This will undoubtedly increase customer confidence in the suitability of the rabbits for the area to be restocked.…”
Section: Breeder Replacement Practicesmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…However, this market niche is constrained by red tape for animal health reasons; e.g., fear of the rabbit haemorrhagic disease spreading limits the export of live rabbits from Spain to restock hunting preserves in France (Gibb, 1990). Export of wild rabbits is also constrained by modern wildlife restoration strategies, which promote restocking using animals from autochthonous populations in order to avoid problems caused by genetic introgression (González-Redondo, 2002;Delibes-Mateos et al, 2008). In addition, the maximum authorised journey time for rabbits limits this particular trade, because it makes part of the potential foreign market out of range for several Spanish game farms, if mandatory transport regulations are followed (Council of the European Union, 2005).…”
Section: Geographic Market Areamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…These actions have already been described as potentially hazardous to the genetic variability present in the rabbit populations of the Iberian Peninsula, as hybridisation could occur (Delibes-Mateos et al, 2008), although it does happen naturally along the overlap zone, which separates the two rabbit lineages (Branco et al 2000;Geraldes et al 2006). The ecological implication of such subspecies mixing is, and will probably continue to be, unknown, but as mentioned previously, it is widely recognised that significant body differences exist between O. c. algirus and O. c. cuniculus, again confirmed by the results shown in the current work.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Furthermore, weight differences have been described as being of ecological importance in a wide variety of factors, as described in greater detail by Calder (1983), one of which concerns population density, as species with lower weight tend to have larger population densities than heavier ones (Greenwood et al, 1996). Accordingly, caution is advised in performing restocking procedures, mainly when the introduced species or subspecies is different from that of native populations (Simberloff, 1996;Delibes-Mateos et al, 2008).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Although rabbits were historically numerous and widespread, habitat loss and the introduction of two viral diseases, myxomatosis in the 1950s and rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) in 1989, resulted in a dramatic decline in rabbit populations in the second half of the twentieth century (Villafuerte et al, 1995;Calvete et al, 2002;Delibes-Mateos et al, 2010). The translocation and/or release of wild-caught or farm-reared wild rabbits are two very common practices in rabbit management and became much more frequent in the 1990s (Delibes-Mateos et al, 2008b), apparently as a consequence of the devastating effect of RHD on most Iberian rabbit populations.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%