Invasive European Wild Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in Argentina: State of the Art and Prospects for Research

Abstract

The European wild rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus, is simultaneously a threatened species within its native range and yet, a successful colonizer worldwide (Lees and Bell 2008). The European rabbit is native to the Iberian Peninsula, south of France and north of Africa. In the Iberian Peninsula, its populations have undergone a massive decline during the twentieth century as a result of introduced pathogens (including myxoma virus and rabbit calicivirus), overhunting, habitat loss, and changes in land use (Lees and Bell 2008). The rabbit is a keystone species in the Mediterranean ecosystem of the Iberian Peninsula. For example, it is a key food source for more than 30 carnivorous species and a primary prey item for many of them, including critically endangered species such as the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) and the Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti) (Delibes-Mateos et al. 2008). It also is an important ecosystem engineer for having the potential to modulate availability of resources for themselves and other organisms by building extensive open burrow systems (Galvez-Bravo et al. 2008).