Evidence of autumn reproduction in female European hares (Lepus europaeus) from southern Europe

• Tipo: Artigo em Revista Científica Internacional
• Data: 2008

Autores

Aglaia Antoniou (Autor) Outra; Georgios Kotoulas (Autor) Outra; Antonios Magoulas (Autor) Outra; Paulo Celio Alves (Autor) FCUP

Revista

A Revista está pendente de validação pelos Serviços Administrativos.

Título: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH

Vol. 54

Páginas: 581-587

ISSN: 1612-4642

Indexação

ISI Web of Knowledge - 11 Citações

Scopus - 10 Citações

Classificação Científica

FOS: Ciências exactas e naturais > Ciências biológicas

Outras Informações

ID Authenticus: P-003-VRF

DOI: 10.1007/s10344-008-0182-y

Abstract (EN): Information on reproductive biology of the European hare (Lepus europaeus) in different environmental and landscape conditions comprises part of fundamental knowledge regarding species' adaptive responses as well as many aspects of its biology. Most of the studies conducted on European hare reproduction are confined to midlatitude and northern populations, whereas no data exist on the indigenous southern populations. Here, we present information on reproductive characteristics of European hares inhabiting Mediterranean ecosystems on the island of Crete, Greece for two successive hunting seasons. Although the annual reproductive cycle of the species is well known, with an autumn sexual inactivity, the duration of this period is subjected to fluctuations in different years and for different areas. According to our data, hare populations of Crete present an autumn-early winter reproductive activity with high proportions of pregnant females observed in all the months of the study. Furthermore, the estimated mean litter size (1.54 SE +/- 0.07) while signed to the lowest values ever observed for European hares is similar to values obtained in continuous breeding species of the same genus, Lepus granatensis, Lepus corsicanus, Lepus (capensis) mediterraneus, and Lepus capensis also inhabiting warm climates. In conclusion, our results suggest that Cretan European hare populations exhibit a reproductively active period during autumn-early winter where proportions of pregnant females and litter size give a strong indication of a continuous reproduction throughout the year.

Idioma: Inglês

Tipo (Avaliação Docente): Científica

Nº de páginas: 7