Rabbit Calicivirus Disease:
Magic Bullet or Pandora’s Box? by Gary M. Fortier

Learning Issues

  1. Why might large rabbit populations be problematic? In other words, exactly what problems do they create for other wildlife and livestock?
  2. In what ways might mink interact with indigenous New Zealand wildlife? One obvious answer is “as a predator,” but what are other forms of interaction, both direct and indirect?
  3. Why does it matter whether we use an RNA virus or a DNA virus? How do they differ?
  4. Why did the myxoma virus fail as a control agent? Is the calicivirus any more likely to succeed? Why?
  5. Describe Dana's concerns about the evolution of the calicivirus, whether these concerns are reasonable, and the likelihood that the virus will infect animals besides rabbits.
  6. How do biologists determine whether a potential biological control agent will attack non-target species?
  7. In addition to biological controls, what other options are available for control of European rabbits? How effective are these options?

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Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/rabbits/rabbits.asp

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