A. Velazquez et Gw. Heil, HABITAT SUITABILITY STUDY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF THE VOLCANO RABBIT (ROMEROLAGUS-DIAZI), Journal of Applied Ecology, 33(3), 1996, pp. 543-554
1. The endangered Mexican volcano rabbit (Romerolagus diazi) habitat r
elationship was investigated. Data, obtained from 137 sampling units i
n 14 patches of the geographical distribution areas of the rabbit, inc
luded information on floristic composition, vegetation structure, terr
ain characteristics and human activities. The abundance of the volcano
rabbit was measured in 685 subsampling units by pellet-counts and est
imations of pellet-coverage. 2. Two questions have been addressed in t
his paper: what is a good indicator of habitat type and which are the
habitat factors that explain best the distribution of the volcano rabb
it? 3. Thirteen plant communities were identified. Terrain and landsca
pe units were distinguished through aerial photograph interpretation a
nd were verified in the field. By means of classical (parametric and n
on-parametric) and multivariate (Canonical Correspondence Analysis) st
atistical analyses, the most suitable, suitable and unsuitable habitat
classes were detected. 4. The results indicated that plant communitie
s (F=4,14; P <0.0001) and landscape units (F=7,29; P <0.001) were adeq
uate levels to distinguish habitat types for the rabbit. 5. Plant comm
unities of Festuca tolucensis and Trisetum altijugum-Festuca tolucensi
s attained the largest abundance of rabbits, followed by the communiti
es Muhlenbergia quadridentata-Pinus hartwegii, Festuca tolucensis-Pinu
s hartwegii and Pinus sp.-Alnus firmifolia. The abundances of the volc
ano rabbit in the remaining plant communities were significantly less
than in the communities mentioned above. 6. These results suggest that
the volcano rabbit shows strong preferences for subalpine habitat typ
es. 7. Soil moisture (r=-0.840), altitude (r=-0.756), grazing (r=-0.42
3) and burning (r=0.494) correlated significantly with the distributio
n and abundance of the volcano rabbit. 8. These results are discussed
in light of their role in the conservation of the volcano rabbit.