Hi. I've spent much of the last 8 years researching rabbits and RHDV (the calicivirus) in Australia.

I have trapped rabbits in cage traps, searched rabbit burrows for stinky carcasses, made DIY fly traps to catch flies that carry RHDV and sequenced DNA from all of the above.

All of that was searching for answers to these questions:

• How much variation there is in Australian rabbit genes? What does that say about where they were introduced from and how they might respond to biocontrols like myxomatosis and RHDV?
• How much variation is there in RHDV strains? Are strains that come early in the season more likely to infect rabbits and cause an outbreak? Is tracking the virus using flies better than relying on finding rabbit carcasses?
• Which rabbits are the most successful breeders in a population? Is there a difference between those that make lots of babies and those whose babies survive? How might that affect the evolution of resistance to biocontrols and can we use that information to target our control activities better?

I'm always delighted to answer any questions about my work, no matter how obscure, curly, silly, small or big they are. If you are interested to ask I'm interested to answer, so ask away!

Anonymous wrote:

Hi Amy, I'd love to know what your most surprising discovery has been?

My most surprising discovery is that some of the wild rabbit litters were fathered by more than one male! This is especially amazing because female rabbits get fertile directly in response to sex, instead of a regular monthly cycle like humans have. So, after the first male impregnates her there's a window of maybe only 4 hours where another male's sperm has time to get in on the action, they're busy blighters! 

Anonymous wrote:

 I heard that a Belgian strain of rabbits was once introduced to Phillip Island (Vic). Not sure if they were the ones bred to look like hares (‘Belgian hares’) or a wild rabbit from Belgium, but wondered if anything could be learnt by looking at the genetics of rabbits now on Phillip Island. If they are different to mainland Australia could that be useful in research for new biological controls?

Looking at the genetics would certainly show whether the Phillip Island rabbits are notably different to those on our mainland, and I would love to know!

If they are different that could result from a different introduction source, like Belgium instead of the UK, or just an accumulation of random mutations over time because the population is isolated. If we also sequenced some wild rabbits from Belgium that would let us distinguish the cause - they could be more similar to Belgian rabbits than feral Australian rabbits!

I don't imagine they would have used a fancy domestic breed like 'Belgian hares' to seed a wild stock for hunting, more likely the local wild rabbits as you suggest, but stranger things have happened.

Knowing how similar the Phillip Island population is to the mainland could indeed impact biocontrol activities. It could help us to predict how effective an RHDV baiting campaign might be, and in the far future we might be able to pick the best matching strain from a selection based on local rabbit genetics. If rabbit control gene drives are developed one day then we would also need to make sure that localised genetic differences wouldn't impact that technology. Much of this genetic technology is just getting started, but learning what kind of rabbits we have is a good first step.