Changes in Vegetation Since the Advent of Myxomatosis

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Abstract
There is evidence that rabbits had little action on the British vegetation before 1840, except in the warrens where they were preserved. Changes in plant cover since 1954, when myxomatosis appeared in Britain, have been recorded by making repeated observations at point-quadrats along fixed transects in different places; a total of about twelve thousand point-quadrats have been recorded each year, sometimes twice a year. The vegetation has increased in height, there are more palatable grasses and clovers, and more woody plants. Orchids and other uncommon plants have flowered more abundantly in the absence of rabbits; some poisonous plants, whose growth was encouraged by the activities of rabbits, became less common.