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Long‐term study of litter size in relation to population density in rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) in Lincolnshire, England
Author(s) -
Trout R. C.,
Smith G. C.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.915
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1469-7998
pISSN - 0952-8369
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7998.1998.tb00164.x
Subject(s) - myxomatosis , biology , european rabbit , litter , population , population density , population size , ecology , abundance (ecology) , demography , virus , virology , sociology
After the introduction of myxomatosis to the U.K. in 1953, the rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus population crashed to less than 1% of its original size (Lloyd, 1970). Since that time the population has been slowly recovering, and reached about 20% of pre‐myxomatosis levels by 1980 (Lloyd, 1981; Trout, Tapper & Harradine, 1986). Between 1980 and 1986 an index of rabbit abundance was produced from field surveys, which resulted in an estimated population growth rate of just under 1% per year but there has been no objective assessment of the changes nationally since 1986.