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European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?

The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is one of the main invasive species in Chile, where it became naturalized ca. 150 years ago. Their high reproductive capacity, lack of specialist predators, and great adaptability favored the settlement of rabbits in diverse mainland and island ecosystems...

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Autores principales: Gübelin, Patricia, Correa-Cuadros, Jennifer Paola, Ávila-Thieme, María Isidora, Flores-Benner, Gabriela, Duclos, Melanie, Lima, Mauricio, Jaksic, Fabián M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10144028/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37109445
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13040916
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author Gübelin, Patricia
Correa-Cuadros, Jennifer Paola
Ávila-Thieme, María Isidora
Flores-Benner, Gabriela
Duclos, Melanie
Lima, Mauricio
Jaksic, Fabián M.
author_facet Gübelin, Patricia
Correa-Cuadros, Jennifer Paola
Ávila-Thieme, María Isidora
Flores-Benner, Gabriela
Duclos, Melanie
Lima, Mauricio
Jaksic, Fabián M.
author_sort Gübelin, Patricia
collection PubMed
description The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is one of the main invasive species in Chile, where it became naturalized ca. 150 years ago. Their high reproductive capacity, lack of specialist predators, and great adaptability favored the settlement of rabbits in diverse mainland and island ecosystems of the country. Recently, rabbits have become central players in semi-arid ecosystems, such as those represented in Las Chinchillas National Reserve in north-central Chile. We undertook to analyze the place and role of rabbits in the food web of that Reserve, based on a bibliographic review and long-term annual data gathered from 1987 until 2022 (36 years). Results showed that the network comprised 77 species, where 69% were primary producers (plants), 18% were mid-level consumers (herbivores), and 13% were top-level consumers (predators). The most connected species in the food web was the rabbit, which positively or negatively affected the species interacting with it. Predators such as Galictis cuja, Geranoaetus polyosoma, Leopardus colocolo, and Puma concolor, and the scavenger Vultur gryphus, could be negatively affected by an eventual decrease (natural or human-caused) in the rabbit population of the Reserve. To the contrary, primary producers such as Oxalis perdicaria, Plantago hispidula, Schizanthus parvulus, Senna cumminggi, and Tropaeolum azureum could be positively affected by an increase in their biomass in response to a decrease in rabbits, favoring native rodents. We consider that analyzing the rabbit-centered food web and its impacts on native interacting species allows a better understanding of the relevance of invasive species in the local community, providing conceptual tools for rabbit management.
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spelling pubmed-101440282023-04-29 European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs? Gübelin, Patricia Correa-Cuadros, Jennifer Paola Ávila-Thieme, María Isidora Flores-Benner, Gabriela Duclos, Melanie Lima, Mauricio Jaksic, Fabián M. Life (Basel) Article The European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is one of the main invasive species in Chile, where it became naturalized ca. 150 years ago. Their high reproductive capacity, lack of specialist predators, and great adaptability favored the settlement of rabbits in diverse mainland and island ecosystems of the country. Recently, rabbits have become central players in semi-arid ecosystems, such as those represented in Las Chinchillas National Reserve in north-central Chile. We undertook to analyze the place and role of rabbits in the food web of that Reserve, based on a bibliographic review and long-term annual data gathered from 1987 until 2022 (36 years). Results showed that the network comprised 77 species, where 69% were primary producers (plants), 18% were mid-level consumers (herbivores), and 13% were top-level consumers (predators). The most connected species in the food web was the rabbit, which positively or negatively affected the species interacting with it. Predators such as Galictis cuja, Geranoaetus polyosoma, Leopardus colocolo, and Puma concolor, and the scavenger Vultur gryphus, could be negatively affected by an eventual decrease (natural or human-caused) in the rabbit population of the Reserve. To the contrary, primary producers such as Oxalis perdicaria, Plantago hispidula, Schizanthus parvulus, Senna cumminggi, and Tropaeolum azureum could be positively affected by an increase in their biomass in response to a decrease in rabbits, favoring native rodents. We consider that analyzing the rabbit-centered food web and its impacts on native interacting species allows a better understanding of the relevance of invasive species in the local community, providing conceptual tools for rabbit management. MDPI 2023-03-31 /pmc/articles/PMC10144028/ /pubmed/37109445 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13040916 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Gübelin, Patricia
Correa-Cuadros, Jennifer Paola
Ávila-Thieme, María Isidora
Flores-Benner, Gabriela
Duclos, Melanie
Lima, Mauricio
Jaksic, Fabián M.
European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
title European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
title_full European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
title_fullStr European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
title_full_unstemmed European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
title_short European Rabbit Invasion in a Semi-Arid Ecosystem of Chile: How Relevant Is Its Role in Food Webs?
title_sort european rabbit invasion in a semi-arid ecosystem of chile: how relevant is its role in food webs?
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10144028/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37109445
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/life13040916
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