Decades ago, in an area called New England, our story starts with a species of cottontail rabbit called the New England cottontail (Sylvilagus transitionalis, or the wood rabbit). This rabbit lived all over- stretching from southern Maine to the Hudson River in New York , thriving in the dense shrublands throughout the area. Then soon... things changed.
It is not the end for our rabbit. With such significant declines, we are working harder than ever to help encourage New England cottontail populations in the face of habitat loss and fragmentation, as well as competition with a non-native competitor. We are creating habitat for the few populations remaining, and we are even creating habitat that we hope will encourage our native wood rabbit while discouraging the non-native eastern cottontail. It will not be the end of the story!
Check out our Habitat Management Page to learn more about some of the new techniques being used to help our wood rabbits! Happy Halloween Everyone! -The Cottontail Crew
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We’re back! After a summer of office, lab, and field work, the Cottontail Crew is back in the Hudson Valley for the winter. We hit the ground running this past week to start off our 2019-2020 field season right by catching two eastern cottontails and putting radio collars on both! If this is your first visit to our blog - welcome! Bun on the Run is a blog written by the Cottontail Crew, a team of researchers and technicians from SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. The purpose of our research is to better understand the factors that limit New England cottontail populations, evaluate habitat management strategies to promote this imperiled species, and improve woodlands for the wildlife that rely on them. Our goals this field season include:
The immediate goal of this project is to determine resource selection for our rabbits in order to evaluate habitat management practices. However, our research has a much broader conservation impact. With the New England cottontail as our umbrella species, we will be able to not only improve woodlands for this imperiled species, but for over 60 other species of wildlife that also rely on this habitat! Stay tuned for updates, more photos of rabbits and the habitat they use, as well as photos of the Cottontail Crew themselves! |
Cottontail Captures 2019-2020!
AuthorDrew Eline is the graduate student on the New England cottontail project. She currently runs the winter/spring field season. Archives
December 2020
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