Blackwell Publishing LtdThe rise and fall of the mountain hare ( Lepus timidus during Pleistocene glaciations: expansion and retreat with hybridization in the Iberian Peninsula

• Main Authors: J Melo-ferreira, P Boursot, E Randi, A Kryukov, F Suchentrunk, N Ferrand, P C Alves, Istituto Nazionale
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Arctic; Lepus timidus; mountain hare
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.505.645; http://www.ibss.febras.ru/files/00004431.pdf

The climatic fluctuations during glaciations have affected differently arctic and temperate species. In the northern hemisphere, cooling periods induced the expansion of many arctic species to the south, while temperate species were forced to retract in southern refugia. Consequently, in some areas the alternation of these species set the conditions for compe-tition and eventually hybridization. Hares in the Iberian Peninsula appear to illustrate this phenomenon. Populations of Iberian hare ( Lepus granatensis