Survival of Eastern Cottontail Rabbits within Bottomland Agroforestry Habitats.Eastern cottontail Noun 1. eastern cottontail - widely distributed in United States except northwest and far west regions Sylvilagus floridanus cottontail, cottontail rabbit, wood rabbit - common small rabbit of North America having greyish or brownish fur and a tail with a rabbit Sylvilagus floridanus Noun 1. Sylvilagus floridanus - widely distributed in United States except northwest and far west regions eastern cottontail cottontail, cottontail rabbit, wood rabbit - common small rabbit of North America having greyish or brownish fur and a tail with a herbivory has hindered reforestation Reforestation The reestablishment of forest cover either naturally or artificially. Given enough time, natural regeneration will usually occur in areas where temperatures and rainfall are adequate and when grazing and wildfires are not too frequent. efforts at agroforestry ag·ro·for·est·ry n. A system of land use in which harvestable trees or shrubs are grown among or around crops or on pastureland, as a means of preserving or enhancing the productivity of the land. sites within the Missouri River floodplain floodplain, level land along the course of a river formed by the deposition of sediment during periodic floods. Floodplains contain such features as levees, backswamps, delta plains, and oxbow lakes. . There is a great need to understand the rabbits' population dynamics and movements within these environments to aid oak reforestation activities. Previous rabbit studies at our study site indicated wide variability in survival rates of rabbits, which might have influenced the inconsistency we observed in overall herbivory rates. We used radiotelemetry data from January through May 2003 and 2004 and December through February 2004-2005 to investigate survival rates of rabbits within bottomland fields. Monthly and bi-monthly survival rates were calculated among the three separate intervals. During 2003, 17 deaths were observed from 24 radio-collared rabbits and in 2004, 44 mortalities of 55 radio-collared rabbits were observed. Finally, in 2005, 14 mortalities were discovered from a total of 41 radio-collared rabbits. Of the 75 observed rabbit mortalities: 30 died from mammalian predation predation Form of food getting in which one animal, the predator, eats an animal of another species, the prey, immediately after killing it or, in some cases, while it is still alive. Most predators are generalists; they eat a variety of prey species. , 10 of avian predation, 1 from hunting and 34 died of unknown causes. These data were related to a variety of factors thought to influence survival. Weather was an important determinant of predation on rabbits; higher predation rates were observed when precipitation occurred previous to discovery of rabbit mortalities. We observed no differences in survival between rabbits' age and gender. Monthly survival rates over the three years show wide variability in amount over time: 2003 (0.52-1.00), 2004 (0.33-0.93) and 2005 (0.63-0.88). These data further support the dominance of mammalian predation on cottontail rabbit populations and of a potential survival/predation latitude gradient within the United States. * Miller, L.J., J.J. Millspaugh, and D.C. Dey. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, University of Missouri-Columbia. |
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