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Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission

Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV), which is a calicivirus, is used as a biocontrol agent to suppress European wild rabbit populations in Australia. The transmission of RHDV can be influenced by social interactions of rabbits; however, there is a paucity of this knowledge about juvenile rabbit...

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Autores principales: Sawyers, Emma, Cox, Tarnya E., Fleming, Peter J. S., Leung, Luke K. P., Morris, Stephen
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9333329/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35901018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271272
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author Sawyers, Emma
Cox, Tarnya E.
Fleming, Peter J. S.
Leung, Luke K. P.
Morris, Stephen
author_facet Sawyers, Emma
Cox, Tarnya E.
Fleming, Peter J. S.
Leung, Luke K. P.
Morris, Stephen
author_sort Sawyers, Emma
collection PubMed
description Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV), which is a calicivirus, is used as a biocontrol agent to suppress European wild rabbit populations in Australia. The transmission of RHDV can be influenced by social interactions of rabbits; however, there is a paucity of this knowledge about juvenile rabbits and the roles they may play in the transmission of RHDV. We aimed to quantify the social interactions of juvenile (< 900 g) and adult (> 1200 g) rabbits in a locally abundant population in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Twenty-six juvenile and 16 adult rabbits were fitted with VHF proximity loggers to monitor intra- and inter-group pairings. Use of multiple warrens by these rabbits was investigated using VHF base stations at nine warrens and on foot with a hand-held Yagi antenna. Juvenile rabbits were strongly interconnected with both juveniles and adults within and outside their warren of capture, and almost all juveniles were well-connected to other individuals within their own social group. Inter-group pairings were infrequent and fleeting between adults. Both juvenile and adult rabbits used multiple warrens. However, visits to warrens outside their warren of capture, particularly those within 50 m, were more common and longer in duration in juveniles than in adults. The high connectivity of juveniles within and between warrens in close proximity increases potential pathogen exchange between warrens. Therefore, juvenile rabbits could be of greater importance in lagovirus transmission than adult rabbits. The strength of juvenile rabbit inter- and intra-group pairings, and their tendency to use multiple warrens, highlight their potential to act as ‘superspreaders’ of both infection and immunity for lagoviruses and other pathogens with similar lifecycles. Confirmation of this potential is required through examination of disease progress and rabbit age-related immune responses during outbreaks.
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spelling pubmed-93333292022-07-29 Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission Sawyers, Emma Cox, Tarnya E. Fleming, Peter J. S. Leung, Luke K. P. Morris, Stephen PLoS One Research Article Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease Virus (RHDV), which is a calicivirus, is used as a biocontrol agent to suppress European wild rabbit populations in Australia. The transmission of RHDV can be influenced by social interactions of rabbits; however, there is a paucity of this knowledge about juvenile rabbits and the roles they may play in the transmission of RHDV. We aimed to quantify the social interactions of juvenile (< 900 g) and adult (> 1200 g) rabbits in a locally abundant population in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia. Twenty-six juvenile and 16 adult rabbits were fitted with VHF proximity loggers to monitor intra- and inter-group pairings. Use of multiple warrens by these rabbits was investigated using VHF base stations at nine warrens and on foot with a hand-held Yagi antenna. Juvenile rabbits were strongly interconnected with both juveniles and adults within and outside their warren of capture, and almost all juveniles were well-connected to other individuals within their own social group. Inter-group pairings were infrequent and fleeting between adults. Both juvenile and adult rabbits used multiple warrens. However, visits to warrens outside their warren of capture, particularly those within 50 m, were more common and longer in duration in juveniles than in adults. The high connectivity of juveniles within and between warrens in close proximity increases potential pathogen exchange between warrens. Therefore, juvenile rabbits could be of greater importance in lagovirus transmission than adult rabbits. The strength of juvenile rabbit inter- and intra-group pairings, and their tendency to use multiple warrens, highlight their potential to act as ‘superspreaders’ of both infection and immunity for lagoviruses and other pathogens with similar lifecycles. Confirmation of this potential is required through examination of disease progress and rabbit age-related immune responses during outbreaks. Public Library of Science 2022-07-28 /pmc/articles/PMC9333329/ /pubmed/35901018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271272 Text en © 2022 Sawyers et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Sawyers, Emma
Cox, Tarnya E.
Fleming, Peter J. S.
Leung, Luke K. P.
Morris, Stephen
Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
title Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
title_full Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
title_fullStr Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
title_full_unstemmed Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
title_short Social interactions of juvenile rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
title_sort social interactions of juvenile rabbits (oryctolagus cuniculus) and their potential role in lagovirus transmission
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9333329/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35901018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0271272
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