BIOL 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Rabbit Haemorrhagic Disease, Myxoma Virus, Agricultural Productivity
Document Summary
Stopped rabbits by building over a 100 miles fence to keep them in place did not work and killed many emus and kangaroos. The emus and kangaroos made holes in the fence allowing for rabbits to escape. The virus spread by mosquitos and there are not many mosquitos in the arid interior. Some rabbits escaped exposure, a small number were resistant. However, the dramatic loss of food caused the numbers of predators like foxes, eagles and goannas to plummet. The surviving predators started eating small marsupials more, and have driven them to extinction. The rabbits that were resistant to the myxoma virus started to breed again, but now the numbers of predators was reduced. Calcivirus, which causes rabbit haemorrhagic disease (rhd) was released in 1995. This is spread by flies, which are common in arid areas. It turns out that rabbits can carry another calcivirus that does not cause disease and may confer partial immunity to rhd.
