Motorway verges: paradise for prey species? A case study with the European rabbit.

Roads have many effects on the mammal populations of their surroundings. Prey species are thought to establish dense populations in road verges due to a predation release effect, which arise as a side-effect of roadside avoidance by predators and/or predator roadkill. A species that has been suggested to benefit from predation release and attain high densities near roads is the European rabbit, a keystone species in Mediterranean ecosystems. We monitored rabbit relative abundance at three distances from a motorway (50, 450 and 850 m) during a 6 month period, as well as hunting and predator pressures, in a suitable area for rabbits. The lowest rabbit abundance was found next to the motorway (6.76 ± 8.87 pellets/m2 per month) and the highest abundance at an intermediate distance (17.65 ± 23.11 pellets/m2 per month). Hunting and carnivore pressures were highest at the sampling transect located …

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Planillo A. y Malo J.E. Motorway verges: paradise for prey species? A case study with the European rabbit. Elsevier, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mambio.2012.11.001

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Resource type Text
Date of creation 2024-12-02
Date of last revision 2025-01-19
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Metadata identifier 34c54309-5766-5d5f-832b-92c08e9478de
Metadata language Spanish
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ISO 19115 topic category biota
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Name of the dataset creator Planillo, A. y Malo, J.E.
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Other identifier DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2012.11.001
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