Habitat requirements of the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus PALLAS 1778) in an intensively used agriculture region (Lower Saxony, Germany)

BMC Ecology
Katharina SliwinskiUrsula Siebert

Abstract

The European brown hare (Lepus europaeus) typically resides in open habitats in agriculturally dominated landscapes in Europe. Over recent decades, a widely observed population decline occurred, which was attributed to agricultural intensification. However, with political incentives for specific crops, especially maize for energy production, the habitat went through massive changes. Thus, there is the need to identify parameters that characterize a suitable habitat for the brown hare in today's agricultural lands. We modelled European brown hare densities spatially and temporally explicit over 10 years (2005-2014) across an entire federal state. The generalized additive mixed model confirms a constant decline of the European brown hare population in Lower Saxony. Municipalities with a high proportion of grassland and precipitation totaling up to 900 mm are more favored. Woodland showed an approximately linear negative effect. The most important agricultural crop groups such as winter grains and winter oilseed rape showed overall positive effects on hare densities. However, the effect of maize was unimodal, with a positive effect of medium proportions, but a negative effect of very high proportions. The effect of sugar beet was ...Continue Reading

References

Mar 28, 2002·Journal of Comparative Physiology. B, Biochemical, Systemic, and Environmental Physiology·K HackländerT Ruf
Jan 20, 2007·Science·S J ButlerK Norris
Nov 21, 2008·Proceedings. Biological Sciences·D KleijnJ Verhulst
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Aug 5, 2015·Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica·Annika PosautzAnna Kübber-Heiss
Mar 10, 2016·The Science of the Total Environment·Oliver KeulingUrsula Siebert

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Citations

Mar 7, 2021·Animals : an Open Access Journal From MDPI·Andrea VivianoWalid Fathy Mohamed
May 19, 2021·Environmental Science and Pollution Research International·Martin Kompiš, Zuzana Kompišová Ballová

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Software Mentioned

WorldClim
R package ‘ mgcv ’
GAMM
R

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