Abstract
We studied a semi-isolated cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) population in southern Illinois from 1982 to 1990 to determine patterns of population change following a tularemia epizootic in 1980 and to evaluate the role of enzootic disease in population regulation. The population reached a density of > 14 rabbits/ha in the best habitats 7 years after the 1980 epizootic, but drought in summer 1988 and harvest that autumn reduced the population base. Condition indices and necropsy did not indicate food as a limiting factor at the observed peak density. Prior to 1988, serosurveys to detect IgM/IgG immunoglobulins to Francisella tularensis provided the only evidence of enzootic tularemia in the population, but clinical cases were detected beginning April 1988
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