With ongoing introductions into Australia since the 1700s, the European rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) has become one of the most widely distributed and abundant vertebrate pests, adversely impacting Australia's biodiversity and agroeconomy. To understand the population and range dynamics of the species and its impacts better, occurrence and abundance data have been collected by researchers and citizens from sites covering a...

Recent analyses of geographical variation in cats’ diet across Australia have been used to highlight rabbit control as a conservation risk, on the basis that prey‐switching by cats following rabbit control is likely to threaten Australian fauna. There is no direct evidence to support that proposition. However, there is direct evidence of repeated prey‐switching due to seasonal fluctuations in uncontrolled rabbit populations, o...

R abbit H aemorrhagic D isease V irus ( RHDV ) was introduced into A ustralia in 1995 as a biological control agent against the wild E uropean rabbit ( O ryctolagus cuniculus ). We evaluated its evolution over a 16‐year period (1995–2011) by examining 50 isolates collected throughout A ustralia, as well as the original inoculum strains. Phylogenetic analysis of capsid protein VP 60 sequences of the A ustralian isolates, compar...

Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV) is a highly virulent lagovirus endemic in Europe and Australasian populations of the European rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus . It has also caused several unexplained disease outbreaks in domestic European rabbits in North America. Non‐pathogenic spread of RHDV leading to persistent infection which later reactivated has recently been proposed as the cause of overt disease and death of a p...