Microhabitat use by European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in central Chile: Are adult and juvenile patterns the
Javier A Simonetti1, Eduardo R Fuentes1
1Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 114-D, Santiago, Chile.
Oecologia
|March 18, 2017
Abstract:
Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) have been recently introduced to central Chile; adult rabbits have been previously reported to exhibit a release in their use of microhabitats due to lack of effective predation upon them. This paper shows that kittens and juvenile rabbits do not exhibit the same microhabitat use pattern as adults, in spite of the very low predation pressure upon them. These results suggest that small rabbits are ecologically comparable to native rodents.
