Brown, D. E., R. D. Babb, C. Lorenzo, and M. M. Altemus. 2014. Ecology of the antelope jackrabbit (Lepus alleni). The Southwestern Naturalist 59:575-587.

thackerk1 — Thu, 20 Jun 2019 22:39:48 +0000

Authors

David E. Brown

Randall D. Babb

Consuelo Lorenzo

Maria M. Altemus

The antelope jackrabbit (Lepus alleni) is a lagomorph indicative of Neotropic savanna and thornscrub in south-central Arizona, west-central Sonora, and western Sinaloa <1,200 m elevation. We found populations in Arizona are most abundant in tropic–subtropic areas of low relief, characterized by velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina) with an herbaceous understory (= Sonoran savanna grassland), and receiving a mean annual rainfall of between 200 and 450 mm, >90 mm of which falls as summer precipitation. In Mexico, this hare most commonly occurred in savanna grasslands or thornscrub interrupted by open areas receiving between 200 and 450 mm of precipitation per annum. Cacti were important habitat components for the hares and mean annual temperatures were >18°C with <60 d a year having temperatures below 0°C. Although sympatric with Lepus californicus over portions of its range, the two species preferred different habitats and rarely occurred together, and L. alleni was more prone to occur in groups than was L. californicus. We calculated the distributional range of L. alleni as ca. 102,000 km2 in Arizona and Mexico.

Additional Information

Ecology of the antelope jackrabbit

Date of publication:

2014

Topics

antelope jackrabbit

annual rainfall

lagomorph

habitat

cacti

distributional range

conservation.arizona.edu - annual rainfall

Brown, D. E., R. D. Babb, C. Lorenzo, and M. M. Altemus. 2014. Ecology of the antelope jackrabbit (Lepus alleni). The Southwestern Naturalist 59:575-587.

Authors

Additional Information

Topics