Relationships between density of brown hare Lepus europaeus and landscape structure in Poland in the years 1981-1995

Abstract

The relationships between the density of brown hare Lepus europaeus Pallas, 1778 and landscape structure were analysed on the basis of data collected for 11 study areas between 1991 and 1994, and hunting reports from all the 49 provinces of Poland covering the period 1981-1995. The average autumn density of hares in study areas (8-28 ind/km2, estimated by strip census) decreased with the number of forest edges and increased with the number of permanent cover areas per km of transects. In the provinces of the country, the hare abundance index (hunting bag, ranging from 0.07 to 5.18 ind/km2) decreased with both the proportion of large fields and forests in all the years. The negative effects of large fields and forests on the hare abundance index increased in the study period.