Abstract The recreational use of natural resources requires the implementation of sustainable management systems. However, the existence of socioeconomic interests and the difficulty involved in applying evidence-based criteria often hinder this implementation. The European wild rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) is an appropriate case with which to study the recreational hunting governance systems. This species has, in recent decades, undergone important population changes in its native area, the Iberian Peninsula, where it plays a triple role as a game, pest and key ecological species. The rabbit is consequently intensively managed for hunting purposes, for the conservation of rabbit-dependent predators and in order to mitigate damage to crops. In this paper, we study the governance system of rabbit hunting through the use of questionnaire surveys distributed to managers working for Spanish regional governments. We repeated the survey in 2001 and 2016 in order to evaluate how the system had evolved over a 15-year period of important changes in rabbit population abundance. We found two different responses to these changes. The growth of rabbit populations in provinces in which rabbits cause crop damage in farmland areas has been dealt with an increase in hunting pressure, derived from both administrative decisions and hunters’ management. However, in provinces where rabbit populations have sharply declined in natural vegetation (non-farmland) areas, the management seems to be driven mostly by inertia, with a high influence of tradition and little use of evidence on administrative decisions. Hunters in these provinces have changed their management practices to little or no extent, where even the high importance of rabbit hunting and its (moderate) economic importance do not appear to provide an incentive for the change required.

中文翻译：

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欧洲猎兔：人口波动时期治理体系的管理变化与惯性

摘要 自然资源的娱乐利用需要实施可持续管理系统。然而，社会经济利益的存在以及应用循证标准所涉及的困难往往阻碍了这一实施。欧洲野兔 (Oryctolagus cuniculus) 是研究休闲狩猎治理系统的合适案例。近几十年来，该物种在其原产地伊比利亚半岛发生了重要的种群变化，在那里它扮演着猎物、害虫和关键生态物种的三重角色。因此，兔子被集中管理用于狩猎目的，保护依赖兔子的捕食者，并减轻对作物的损害。在本文中，我们通过使用分发给西班牙地方政府管理人员的问卷调查来研究兔子狩猎的治理系统。我们在 2001 年和 2016 年重复了这项调查，以评估该系统在兔子种群丰度重要变化的 15 年间是如何演变的。我们发现对这些变化有两种不同的反应。在兔子造成农田作物损失的省份，兔子数量的增长已经解决了狩猎压力的增加，这来自于行政决策和猎人的管理。然而，在自然植被（非农田）地区兔子数量急剧下降的省份，管理似乎主要是惯性驱动，传统影响大，行政决策很少使用证据。