{"id":3588,"date":"2022-08-26T07:47:33","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T07:47:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetryofscience.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=3588"},"modified":"2022-08-26T07:47:33","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T07:47:33","slug":"tracing-a-plague-of-rabbits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/3588\/tracing-a-plague-of-rabbits\/","title":{"rendered":"Tracing a Plague of Rabbits"},"content":{"rendered":"

Unwillingly you came.
\nEars and whiskers
\ntorn from tunnels and huts
\nto give company
\nin stolen gardens
\nat the very creases
\nof the world.
\nBeneath wooden decks
\nyou mixed and stirred,
\ncloistered close for relief
\nbetween the breaking,
\nhaunting sounds
\nof strange and stormy seas.
\nArrival brought release,
\na colony of spoil
\nthat swarmed across the land
\nlike lightning striking twice \u2013
\nyour wanton occupation
\na sure and certain shadow
\nof our own.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The colonisation route of the European rabbit from Iberian Peninsula to Australia and New Zealand (Image Credit: Joel Alves).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem is inspired by recent research<\/a>, which has found that a single introduction of wild rabbits triggered their invasion across Australia in the 1800s.<\/p>\n

European wild rabbits are invasive, feral pests throughout much of Australia. They have caused considerable damage to the natural environment, since being introduced to Australia by European settlers. Rabbits were first introduced to mainland Australia when five domestic animals were brought to Sydney in 1788, but it was not until the 1850s that they became truly invasive, where within 50 years, they spread out at a rate of 100 km per year, making this the fastest colonisation rate for an introduced mammal ever recorded. Despite the construction of rabbit-proof fences, the deliberate introduction of the myxoma virus, and other measures, rabbits remain one of the major invasive species in Australia threatening native flora and fauna and costing the agricultural sector an estimated $200 million per year.<\/p>\n

In this new study, researchers have combined genomic and historical data to show that this biological invasion was likely triggered by a single introduction of rabbits into Australia in 1859, at the estate of a settler named Thomas Austin in Barwon Park, near Geelong in Victoria. A consignment of wild rabbits was caught on the family\u2019s land in Baltonsborough in Somerset and shipped to Australia along with some domestic rabbits. These wild and domestic rabbits likely bred on the ship, and within three years, had multiplied into thousands, according to both local newspaper reports and Austin himself. The researchers also point out that if the trigger for the invasion had been environmental change, such as the development of large pastoral areas by human settlers, then multiple local rabbit populations would likely have expanded. However, the study\u2019s genetic findings and the failure of pre-1859 rabbits to become invasive demonstrate that this was not the case. As such, this infestation event was triggered by a single introduction of rabbits into Australia, which were likely better adapted to the natural environment due to their wild ancestry. These findings also demonstrate how the genetic composition of invasive individuals can determine the success of an introduction and provide a mechanism by which multiple introductions can be required for a biological invasion.<\/p>\n