Rôle du facteur trophique sur la biologie des populations de lapins (Oryctolagus cuniculus L.) des Iles Kerguelen

• Main Authors: BOUSSES, P., ARTHUR, C. P., CHAPUIS, J.-L.
• Other Authors: Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle et Université de Rennes 1, Laboratoire d'Évolution des Systèmes Naturels et Modifiés, 36 rue Geoffroy St Hilaire, F-75005 Paris, FRA, Office National de la Chasse, Saint-Benoist, F-78610 Le Perray-en-Yvelines, FRA
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: French
• Published: Société nationale de protection de la nature et d'acclimatation de France, Paris (FRA) 1988
• Subjects: Indice condition; Reproduction; Facteur trophique; Dynamique population; Kerguelen; Régime alimentaire; Espèce introduite; Oryctolagus cuniculus; Condition index; Trophic factor; Population dynamics; Kerguelen Islands; Diet; Introduced species; Molloy; Pointe du Morne; Pointe Morne
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2042/55330

The diet of two European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) populations living on the subantarctic Kerguelen archipelago was studied from February 1984 to February 1985 , in two different habitats. The condition of the animais (carcass weight and kidney fat index) and their reproductive parameters (rate of pregnancy, litter size, rate of embryonic resorption) were recorded . At the first site, Pointe du Morne, the rabbit's stapple food during the whole year was a grass Poa annua. At the second site, Molloy, their diet was mostly made up of two dicots Acaena adscendens and Taraxacum sp. , the rabbits having to fall back on Acaena stems of low nutritional value in winter. Consequently, the winter carcass weight losses averaged 12 % at Pointe Morne and 24 % at Molloy, and the production per female per year was of 15 and ll offsprings respectively . The plane of nutrition therefore appears as the most important factor regulating rabbit population size in this subantarctic habitat