Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Feeding responses of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) to different wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) densities: a regional approach

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
European Journal of Wildlife Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We investigate the feeding responses of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) at a regional scale to different densities of European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in central–southern Spain. Rabbit abundance indices were obtained in 86 localities during summer 2002. The diet of the fox was studied by analysis of 114 scats collected in 47 of these localities. The feeding response of the fox was examined by a representation of the dry weight percent of rabbit in the diet as a function of the abundance of rabbits; this used data only from those localities where at least 3 scats were collected (70 fox scats from 18 localities). We evaluated the relationship between rabbit abundance and the diversity of the diet of the fox. The feeding patterns of red foxes approximated to Holling’s type III functional response, typical of opportunistic predators. There was a negative relationship between the diversity of the fox’s diet and the abundance of rabbits. Therefore, the fox apparently behaves as a facultative predator, feeding on rabbits when they are abundant and shifting to other prey (and hence a more diverse diet) when rabbits are scarce. These findings are the first step towards understanding the potential role of red foxes in regulating rabbit populations in central–southern Spain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Akre BG, Johnson DM (1979) Switching and sigmoid functional response curves by damselfly naiads with alternative prey available. J Anim Ecol 48:703–720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Amores F (1975) Diet of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) in the western Sierra Morena (South Spain). Doñana Acta Vertebr 2:221–240

    Google Scholar 

  • Banks PB (2000) Can foxes regulate rabbit populations? J Wildl Manage 64:401–406

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartel RA, Knowlton FF (2005) Functional feeding responses of coyotes, Canis latrans, to fluctuating prey abundance in the Curlew Valley, Utah, 1977–1993. Can J Zool 83:568–578

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blanco JC (1988) Estudio ecológico del zorro, Vulpes vulpes (L., 1758), en la sierra de Guadarrama. Ph.D. thesis, University of Oviedo

  • Blanco JC (1998) Mamíferos de España. Editorial Planeta, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanco JC, Villafuerte R (1993) Factores ecológicos que influyen sobre las poblaciones de conejos. Incidencia de la enfermedad hemorrágica. Technical report, Empresa de Transformación Agraria, S.A., Madrid

  • Boutin S (1995) Testing predator–prey theory by studying fluctuating populations of small mammals. Wildl Res 22:89–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Calzada J (2000) Impacto de la depredación y selección de presa del lince y el zorro sobre el conejo. Ph.D. thesis, University of León

  • Day MG (1966) Identification of hair and feather remains in the gut and faeces of stoats and weasels. J Zool 148:201–217

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delibes M, Hiraldo F (1981) The rabbit as prey in the Iberian Mediterranean ecosystem. In: Myers K, MacInnes CD (eds) Proceedings of the World Lagomorph Conference 1979. University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada, pp 614–622

    Google Scholar 

  • Delibes-Mateos M, Redpath, SM, Angulo E, Ferreras P, Villafuerte R (2007) Rabbits as a keystone species in southern Europe. Biol Conserv 137:149–156

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dellafiore CM, Muñoz Vallés S, Gallego Fernández JB (2006) Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) as dispersers of Retama monosperma seeds in a coastal dune system. Ecoscience 13:5–10

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Erlinge S, Göransson G, Högstedt G, Jansson G, Liberg O, Loman J, Nilsson IN, von Schantz T, Sylven M (1984) Can vertebrate predators regulate their prey? Am Nat 123:125–133

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fa JE, Sharples CM, Bell DJ (1999) Habitat correlates of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) distribution after the spread of RVHD in Cadiz Province, Spain. J Zool 249:83–96

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fedriani JM (1996) Dieta anual del zorro, Vulpes vulpes, en dos hábitats del Parque Nacional de Doñana. Doñana Acta Vertebr 23:143–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Fedriani JM, Ferreras P, Delibes M (1998) Dietary response of the Eurasian badger, Meles meles, to a decline of its main prey in the Doñana National Park. J Zool 245:214–218

    Google Scholar 

  • Ferrer M (2001) The Spanish imperial eagle. Lynx Editions, Barcelona

    Google Scholar 

  • Gallego L, Alemany A (1985) Vertebrados Ibéricos, 6. Roedores y Lagomorfos. Antiga Imprenta Soler, Palma de Mallorca

    Google Scholar 

  • Gil-Sánchez JM, Valenzuela G, Sánchez JF (1999) Iberian wild cat Felis silvestris tartessia predation on rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus: functional response and age selection. Acta Theriol 44:421–428

    Google Scholar 

  • Glasser JW (1982) A theory of trophic strategies: the evolution of facultative species. Am Nat 119:250–262

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez-Sal A, Rey-Benayas JM, López-Pintor A, Rebollo S (1999) Role of disturbance in maintaining a savanna-like pattern in Mediterranean Retama sphaerocarpa shrubland. J Veg Sci 10:365–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holling CS (1959) The functional components of predation as revealed by a study of small-mammal predation of the European pine sawfly. Can Entomol 91:293–320

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeschke JM, Kopp M, Tollrian R (2004) Consumer-food systems: why type I functional responses are exclusive to filter feeders. Biol Rev 79:337–349

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Keith LB, Todd AW, Brand CJ, Adamcik RS, Rusch DH (1977) An analysis of predation during a cyclic fluctuation of snowshoe hares. Proceedings of the International Congress of Game Biologists 13:151–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Malo AF, Lozano J, Huertas DL, Virgós E (2004) A change of diet from rodents to rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus): is the wildcat (Felis silvestris) a specialist predator? J Zool 263:401–407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Markstrom V, Kenward RE, Engren E (1988) The impact of predation on boreal tetraonids during vole cycles: an experimental study. J Anim Ecol 57:859–872

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Muñoz G (1960) Anverso y reverso de la mixomatosis. Dirección General de Montes, Caza y Pesca Fluvial, Madrid

  • Newsome AE, Parer, Catling PC (1989) Prolonged prey suppression by carnivores—predator-removal experiments. Oecologia 78:458–467

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palomares F (2001) Comparison of 3 methods to estimate rabbit abundance in Mediterranean environment. Wildl Soc Bull 29:578–585

    Google Scholar 

  • Palomares F, Gaona P, Ferreras P, Delibes M (1995) Positive effects on game species of top predators by controlling smaller predator populations: an example with lynx, mongooses and rabbits. Conserv Biol 9:295–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Palomares F, Delibes M, Revilla E, Calzada J, Fedriani JM (2001) Spatial ecology of the Iberian lynx and abundance of European rabbits in southwestern Spain. Wildl Monogr 148:1–36

    Google Scholar 

  • Pech RP, Sinclair ARE, Newsome AE, Catling PC (1992) Limits to predator regulation of rabbits in Australia: evidence from predator removal experiments. Oecologia 89:102–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rapport DJ (1971) An optimization model for food selection. Am Nat 105:575–587

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Revilla E, Palomares F (2002) Does local feeding specialization exist in Eurasian badgers? Can J Zool 80:83–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds P (1979) Preliminary observation on the food of the fox in the Camargue, with special reference to rabbit predation. Mammalia 43:295–307

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reynolds J, Aebischer N (1991) Comparison and quantification of carnivore diet by faecal analysis: a critique with recommendations based on a study of the Fox Vulpes vulpes. Mamm Rev 21:97–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Sinclair AER, Pech RP (1996) Density dependence, stochasticity, compensation and predator regulation. Oikos 75:164–173

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Solomon ME (1949) The natural control of animal populations. J Anim Ecol 18:1–35

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soriguer RC (1986) The rabbit as a plant seed disperser. Mamm Rev 16:197–200

    Google Scholar 

  • Storch I, Woitke E, Krieger S (2005) Landscape-scale edge effect in predation risk in forest–farmland mosaics of central Europe. Landsc Ecol 20:927–940

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor RJ (1984) Predation. Chapman and Hall, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Teerink BJ (1991) Hair of west-European mammals. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Trites AW, Joy R (2005) Dietary analysis from fecal samples: how many scats are enough? J Mammal 86:704–712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trout RC, Tittensor AM (1989) Can predators regulate wild rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus population density in England and Wales? Mamm Rev 19:153–173

    Google Scholar 

  • Turchin P (2003) Complex population dynamics: a theoretical/empirical synthesis. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Villafuerte R, Calvete C, Blanco JC, Lucientes J (1995) Incidence of viral hemorrhagic disease in wild rabbit populations in Spain. Mammalia 59:651–659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Villafuerte R, Viñuela J, Blanco JC (1998) Extensive predator persecution caused by population crash in a game species: the case of red kites and rabbits in Spain. Biol Conserv 84:181–188

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weaver W, Shannon CE (1949) The mathematical theory of communication. Illinois University Press, Urbana, Illinois

    Google Scholar 

  • Webbon CC, Baker PJ, Cole NC, Harris S (2006) Macroscopic prey remains in the winter diet of foxes Vulpes vulpes in rural Britain. Mamm Rev 36:85–97

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Williams D, Acevedo P, Gortazar C, Escudero MA, Labarta JL, Marco J, Villafuerte R (2007) Hunting for answers: rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) population trends in northeastern Spain. Eur J Wildl Res 53:19–28

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

MDM was supported by a I3P grant funded by the European Social Fund through the “Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas” (CSIC). JFS was supported by a FPI grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science. Funding was provided by the projects CGL 2005-02340/BOS by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science and PAI06-170 by the regional government of Castilla-La Mancha. We are indebted to Dr. J.L. Yela and three anonymous referees for the helpful comments on previous drafts of the manuscript. The authors would also like to thank “International Science Editing” for improving the English version. Special thanks go to G. Calabuig, J. Castillo, P. Castro, A. Finque, A. Linares, S. Luna, J. Martínez, L. Mínguez, M. Reglero, O. Rodríguez, C. Rouco, J. Viñuela and E. Virgós for the field assistance during rabbit surveys.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos, IREC (CSIC–UCLM–JCCM), Ronda de Toledo s/n, 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Miguel Delibes-Mateos, Javier Fernandez de Simon, Rafael Villafuerte & Pablo Ferreras

Authors
  1. Miguel Delibes-Mateos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Javier Fernandez de Simon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rafael Villafuerte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pablo Ferreras
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Miguel Delibes-Mateos.

Additional information

Communicated by W. Lutz

Appendix

Appendix

Table 1 Diet of the red fox (% of dry weight; % of occurrences) within 4 densities of rabbit: rabbits virtually absent (0–2 rabbit pellets/m2, 31 fox scats); low rabbit density (2–15 rabbit pellets/m2, 35 fox scats); intermediate rabbit density (15–50 rabbit pellets/m2, 24 fox scats) and high rabbit density (>50 rabbit pellets/m2, 25 fox scats)
Full size table

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Delibes-Mateos, M., Fernandez de Simon, J., Villafuerte, R. et al. Feeding responses of the red fox (Vulpes vulpes) to different wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) densities: a regional approach. Eur J Wildl Res 54, 71–78 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-007-0111-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10344-007-0111-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation