Effects of factors associated with the decline of brown hare abundance in the Vojvodina region (Serbia)

Abstract

The decline of brown hare populations has been observed throughout Europe for decades. The situation is similar in Serbia where the brown hare population dropped significantly. Vojvodina region in the northern part of Serbia represents a typical farmland habitat with over 80% of the agricultural area. Over the last decades, there were noticeable changes in agricultural production, climate, and fluctuation of the predator abundance. Therefore we assessed the effect of crops, fox abundance, and climate variables on brown hare using multiple regression analyses for the period of 26 years. The percentage of root crops and alfalfa and clover seemed to have a positive effect while the percentage of meadows and maximum measured summer temperatures had a negative effect on the brown hare population. Other variables didn’t have a significant impact however fox abundance should be taken into account since the population highly increased over the last decade.