Western North American Naturalist Volume 64 Number 1 Article 21 2-20-2004 Full Issue, Vol. 64 No. 1 Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan Recommended Citation (2004) "Full Issue, Vol. 64 No. 1," Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 64 : No. 1 , Article 21. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol64/iss1/21 This Full Issue is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Western North American Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact
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[email protected]. Western North American Naturalist 64(1), ©2004, pp. 1–6 BIOGEOGRAPHIC AND CONSERVATION IMPLICATIONS OF LATE QUATERNARY PYGMY RABBITS (BRACHYLAGUS IDAHOENSIS) IN EASTERN WASHINGTON R. Lee Lyman1 ABSTRACT.—Five implications of a biogeographic model of pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus idahoensis) in eastern Washing- ton proposed in 1991 are confirmed by 11 new late-Quaternary records. Pygmy rabbits from eastern Oregon colonized eastern Washington during the late Pleistocene and occupied their largest range during the middle and late Holocene. Disjunction of the eastern Washington population from that in eastern Oregon occurred during at least the late Holo- cene. Nineteenth-century cattle grazing and 20th-century agricultural practices reduced habitat preferred by pygmy rabbits. Conservation of the small remaining population of pygmy rabbits will necessitate altered land use practices. Key words: agriculture, biogeography, Brachylagus idahoensis, conservation, grazing, pygmy rabbit, Washington. Populations of pygmy rabbits (Brachylagus MATERIALS AND METHODS idahoensis) in eastern Washington are isolated from conspecific populations in southeastern Records reported by Lyman (1991) were Oregon, Nevada, and portions of adjacent states reviewed, and documents that appeared since (Fig.