Vegetation cover may afford many species of prey animals reduced risk of being detected and/or attacked by predators. In this study, feeding stations were provided for black-tailed jackrabbits (Lepus californicus) at 3 distances from perennial shrubs to test the prediction that the intensity of foraging by these hares would subside as they moved away from the presumed safety of shrub cover. Jackrabbits consumed significantly more food at stations under shrub canopies than at stations 5 and 10 m from shrubs. Thus, results are consistent with the hypothesis that risk of predation constrains the foraging activities of jackrabbits. The two-fold increase in food consumption near shrubs as compared with consumption away from shrubs implies that native plants or agronomic crops should incur lower levels of herbivory by jackrabbits when they occur at some distance from protective cover. This material was digitized as part of a cooperative project between the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. The Journal of Range Management archives are made available by the Society for Range Management and the University of Arizona Libraries. Contact lbry-journals@email.arizona.edu for further information. Migrated from OJS platform August 2020
Scholarly peer-reviewed articles published by the Society for Range Management. Access articles on a rolling-window basis from vol. 1, 1948 up to 5 years from the current year. Formerly Journal of Range Management (JRM). More recent content is available by subscription from SRM.