Short-term effects of rabbit grazing on a degraded short- tussock grassland in Central Otago
Rabbits are serious economic and environmental pests in New Zealand's semi arid lands, yet there is surprisingly little quantitative information about their grazing impacts. This paper describes the shortterm gains in pasture yield following protection from rabbit grazing in a rabbit-prone, dry tussock grassland community in Central Otago. During the four most productive plant growing months of 1994 (September to December), a six-fold increase in pasture yield was observed after protection from rabbit grazing (139 kg dry weight ha(-1) with rabbits cf. 853 kg DW ha(-1) without rabbits).