naa a22 4500 510745105 CHVBK 20180411083043.0 cr unu---uuuuu 180411e20131001xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s13364-013-0140-2 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s13364-013-0140-2 The short-term effect of total predation exclusion on wild rabbit abundance in restocking plots [Elektronische Daten] [José Guerrero-Casado, Leire Ruiz-Aizpurua, Francisco S. Tortosa] About half a million rabbits are translocated in southwestern Europe every year for conservation and hunting purposes. However, the success of traditional rabbit restocking is generally extremely low, and this has been attributed to short-term predation by mammalian carnivores. Hence, recent recovery programs have tackled the problem of terrestrial predators with the use of exclusion fences, but no additional measures have been employed to avoid aerial predation. In this study, we have therefore conducted a field experiment to test the short-term effect of total predation exclusion in rabbit restocking enclosures, comparing rabbit abundance in plots which are only accessible to raptors (top-open plots) and plots which are accessible to neither carnivores nor raptors (top-closed plots). The results showed that the top-closed plots had higher rabbit abundance in the short term, and the highest difference in rabbit abundance between the two kinds of fences was attained in the first 2weeks. We therefore conclude that the top-closed plots were an effective tool to increase rabbit abundance during the first weeks after release through the exclusion of raptor predation. Mammal Research Institute, Polish Academy of Sciences, Białowieża, Poland, 2013 Oryctolagus cuniculus nationallicence Predator exclusion nationallicence Rabbit conservation nationallicence Raptors nationallicence Restocking nationallicence Guerrero-Casado José Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain aut Ruiz-Aizpurua Leire Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain aut S. Tortosa Francisco Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain aut Acta Theriologica Springer Berlin Heidelberg 58/4(2013-10-01), 415-418 0001-7051 58:4<415 2013 58 13364 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-013-0140-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 brief-communication jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-013-0140-2 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Guerrero-Casado José Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ruiz-Aizpurua Leire Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- S. Tortosa Francisco Department of Zoology, University of Córdoba, Campus de Rabanales, 14071, Córdoba, Spain aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Acta Theriologica Springer Berlin Heidelberg 58/4(2013-10-01), 415-418 0001-7051 58:4<415 2013 58 13364 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer