Rabbit and fox introductions in tierra del fuego: history and assessment of the attempts at biological control of the rabbit infestation
Abstract
Four European rabbits Oryctolagus cuniculus were introduced in the Chilean side of Tierra del Fuego island in 1936. At the height of the rabbit infestation (1953) they numbered about 30 million. Twenty-four foxes Dusicyon griseus were released in Tierra del Fuego in 1951, three years before the myxoma virus decimated the rabbit populations. We document the history of the introductions of both rabbits and foxes in Tierra del Fuego, and evaluate the role of foxes as biological-control agents for the rabbits.
- Publication:
-
Biological Conservation
- Pub Date:
- 1983
- DOI:
- 10.1016/0006-3207(83)90097-6
- Bibcode:
- 1983BCons..26..367J