RELATIVE ABUNDANCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF LAGOMORPHS IN THE CENTER-NORTH OF MÉXICO

Abstract

Hares and rabbits have an ecological, social and economic importance in the center-north region of México. The objective was to evaluate the abundance and distribution of these species through signs (fecal groups), and their relationship with the habitat conditions. The study area covered 86,492.6 km²; 238 sampling sites were selected randomly where a rectangular plot was traced, 10 m wide by 100 m long, and a Canfield line. The habitat was characterized (physiographic sub-province, type of vegetation, soil,
altitude, slope and percentage of basal coverage of grasses and perennial herbaceous), in addition to
an abundance of signs from lagomorphs. The distribution of the signs between these variables was analyzed trough the Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric test. Only 57.3 % of the sites showed presence and the average density was 209,820 signs km^2-1of hares and 99,000 signs km^2-1 of desert rabbit, which is higher than that reported in other studies in arid zones. For hares, the type of vegetation was important, while for rabbit the plant coverage was. The population situation of these species is found in good state, but it is important to perform more studies to evaluate their ecological role and to achieve their sustainable exploitation.