Zach Olson invited to speak at Wildlife Management Congress in Sapporo, Japan, on New England cottontail rabbit burrows
Zach Olson, Ph.D., assistant professor of Animal Behavior in the Department of Psychology, was an invited speaker at the International Wildlife Management Congress, which was held in Sapporo, Japan, on July 27, 2015. He presented on his ongoing research on the state endangered New England cottontail rabbit.
In the talk, titled 鈥淯se of constructed burrows by New England cottontail rabbits,鈥 Olson described how he and his colleagues measured for the first time New England cottontails鈥 use of burrows as shelter and escape cover and discussed how the research provides a promising lead on the idea that adding burrows to the landscape (i.e., constructing them) might benefit efforts at conserving New England cottontails by improving the rabbits鈥 ability to survive in the face of harsh winters and predation attempts.
Olson鈥檚 co-author on the talk was Walter J. Jakubas, Ph.D., of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IF&W). The work also involved the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands.
The research has involved seven 51品茶students who have assisted Olson in installing constructed burrows at three sites in and near Cape Elizabeth, Maine, where they continue to monitor burrow use and effects on survival for the rabbits. Fourteen additional 51品茶student volunteers participated during burrow construction days.