Australia's War Against Rabbits: Story of Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease by Brian Douglas Cooke

Book Description

Secondhand. Good condition. Ex library copy with no external stickers. Partial date due slip on inside page. Wear to book corners and edges. Body text and binding are still very good.

The management of wild rabbits is a vexing problem worldwide. In countries such as Australia and New Zealand, wild rabbits are regarded as serious pests to agriculture and the environment, whereas in many European countries they are considered an important hunting resource and a cornerstone species in Mediterranean ecosystems, modifying habitats and supporting predator populations such as the Iberian lynx.

The introduction of two viral diseases, myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease, as biological control agents in Australia has been met favourably, yet their spread in southern Europe threatens natural rabbit populations. Despite this, scientists with very different goals still collaborate, sharing a common interest in understanding rabbit biology and epidemiology.

Australia's War Against Rabbits uses rabbit haemorrhagic disease as an important case study for understanding how animal populations adapt to disease, in this case caused by an RNA virus.