Tag Archive for: species

Rabbits

Recognition of the Iberian rabbit as a ‘distinct species’ prevents its extinction

International research from Portugal and the UK say the European rabbit is in fact two species split two million years ago, the Iberian one now being in decline.
Until recently, scientists took it for granted that only a single species of rabbit lived on the Iberian Peninsula.
A study – ‘When taxonomy lags behind evolution’- published in Biological Conservation now calls that into question.

According to the Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (CIBIO) of the University of Porto, it is in fact a case of two species with separate evolutionary histories: the Iberian rabbit (Oryctolagus algirus) and European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus).

The former occurs naturally in Portugal and south-western Spain, while the latter dominates the eastern part of the Peninsula and is the source of the populations introduced in Europe, Oceania and the Americas, where it often behaves as an invasive species.


The two animals diverged roughly two million years ago, when they became isolated in different refuges during the Quaternary glaciation: one in the Ebro Valley, the other in the Gulf of Cádiz. Since then they have barely interbred to any significant extent, despite looking very similar at first glance.

The differences are not confined to genetics. There are profound biological differences. The Iberian rabbit is smaller, with darker fur, smaller litters with lower population densities  and earlier sexual maturity than the European species. They also differ in their gut microbiome and the parasites they harbour.
The authors point to precedents: giraffes long grouped as a single species until genomics revealed that there are in fact four.

While the European rabbit populations remain stable – or are even increasing to the point of causing agricultural damage – the Iberian rabbit is in marked decline in Portugal and western Spain and meets the criteria ’endangered species.’ The problem is not just statistic. Game restocking usually releases European rabbits – which are more abundant and prolific – into areas where only the Iberian species previously lived. That can accelerate its replacement through competition.  

The issue goes well beyond the animal itself.
Rabbits are prey for the Iberian lynx and the Spanish imperial eagle, so its conservation status shapes that of much Mediterranean wildlife.

‘It is no longer possible to manage rabbit populations in the Iberian Peninsula as if they constituted a single biological entity. Recognising these two species is fundamental to developing appropriate and tailor-made conservation measures and preventing a single evolutionary lineage from continuing its decline’, emphasis Nuno Ferrand, director at CIBIO and one of the authors of the study.

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Conservation

Portugal fined for environmental failings

Portugal has been fined 10 million euro’s by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) for failing to comply with the Habitats Directive (adopted in 1992), that aims to protect over a thousand species, including mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish and plants. It also has been ordered to pay a compulsory fine of 41,250 euro’s a day until it complies with a previous court order from 2019.

The daily fine corresponds to a penalty of 750 euros for each of the sites, that the court stated had ‘still not be been protected’ despite the Portuguese Government having been ordered seven years ago to comply with EU laws. The fine will be reduced once a site is brought into compliance.

The court said in a statement that ‘these are particularly serious breaches of EU environmental law, in which Portugal has persisted’, whereas ‘its territory hosts rich biodiversity – including 99 habitat types and 335 species covered by the Habitats Directive .´

The European Commission has battled for years to try to force Portugal to conserve and protect habitats and species in areas that should have been designated for conservation under the EU Habitats Directive, that established Natura 2000– the world’s largest ecological network .


Under EU law, sites of community importance include Peneda-Geres – Portugal’s only National park – the natural park Lithoral Norte and the Minho and Lima rivers. Also included are Valongo, home to rare fern species and an important site for the golden-striped salamander, the Serra D’Arga mountain and Corno do Bico, a protected landscape.

The Government was ordered by court to comply with the EU Habitats Directive  in a case brought by the European Commission in 2019 after allegations it had failed to designate sites of community importance as special areas of conservation (SAC).

Under the directive, countries had to designate sac sites that needed protection within six years, with accompanying measures to protect rare habitats and species. In 2019 the court found that Portugal had failed to fulfil its obligations to designate 61 areas under the Atlantic and Mediterranean biodiversity classification.

Although a spokesman of the government declared that ‘’very little remains to be done for the work to be completed and to fully comply with the obligations arising from the Habitats Directive’, environmental NGO ZERO (Association for a Sustainable Terrestrial System) criticised the government for not taking the implementation of environmental projects seriously.

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