Der Einfluss des ökologischen Landbaus auf das Raumnutzungsverhalten von Feldhasen (Lepus europaeus)

Summary

Agricultural intensification (AI) negatively affects biodiversity due to e.g. high-input farming. Organic farming can counteract this negative trend. Here, we studied
movement behavior of the European brown hare (Lepus europaeus), which frequently occurs in agricultural landscapes but also suffers from AI with declining population densities. We measured home range sizes in relation to local field management (organic vs. conventional farming) in Upper Bavarian, Germany. Results showed that
home ranges sizes decreased with increasing amount of organically managed area, while there was no relationship between conventional farmed area and hares’
movement behavior. Higher resource availability in organic fields decrease home range sizes and may therefore positively influences individual fitness and possibly
boosts hare densities.