engleski

Selected indicators of Brown hare (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778) population dynamics in northwestern Croatia

Certain indicators of hare population dynamics (Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778) were analyzed during the hunting season 2004/2005 in 5 hunting grounds of northwestern Croatia. Selected areas included both lowland and mountain habitats. In that period 279 eyes were collected following the regular hunting operations in the purpose of age determination according to the mass of eye lenses. Individual hares were divided in two groups, one included yearlings, while older hares were grouped in the second group. The results of our analysis showed that average rate of yearlings in selected areas were 50.4 % of total hare population. The increase in population number, which was anticipated by management plan, was not achieved in 3 hunting grounds. Reproduction index, which indicates survival rate of offspring&#8217; s per female, had greatly varied from 1.33 to 3.40. The average value of reproduction coefficient was 1.07. Population density in spring varied between 13 and 20.3 individual hares per 100 hectares of hunting ground. Sex ratio value 0.48 indicates the predominance of males. The average weight of hares according to age and gender ranged between 3.41 to 3.84 kg. The difference in weight among males was statistically significant (P<0.05).

hare (Lepus europaeus); eye lens; population dynamics

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