Landscape fragmentation and interspecific interaction can affect status of Italian hare

Habitat fragmentation, caused by expanding of human activities through landscape, has heavy effects on the status of natural populations. It causes: the reduction of total biodiversity, the loss of reactivity of the whole ecosystem, and the increase of ecological distances between populations. During the last decade, the endemic Italian hare (Lepus corsicanus) shows a endangered conservation status due to the fragmentation and scarcity of its populations. Globally, this species is classified as vulnerable due to its variable conservation status across its restricted geographic range. Italian hare decreasing can be also imputable to others different factors: harvest, poaching, and the probable interspecific competition with congeneric European hare (Lepus europaeus, introduced in the last decades by man for hunt). However, the creation of several protected areas in southern and central Italy will help the populations to recover. The goal of our work was provide a descriptive model to explain actual distribution of Italian hare in relation to landscape fragmentation and interaction with sympatric European hare. In order to suggest starting point for management actions in the conservation planning of Italian hare. Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park is home of the greater population of Italian hare, of peninsula, and here we validated ecological model and populations genetic analysis from two species. Genetic approach can be a good tool to quantify status, probable hybridisation, and dispersal, especially if it can be correlated with the connectivity of the landscape. The results suggest that the Italian hare shows an ecological requirement close to average of available resources in the considered landscape. The genetic structure of this autochthonous species can be explained from habitat suitability pattern, and it highlights the differences between the two species. By our first results we can not exclude the inter specific hybridisation events. A lot of conservation actions can be carried out to improve connectivity between Italian hare subpopulations actually characterised by low gene flow: finding new corridors or moving artificially the hare populations.