Coastal dune systems in northwest Europe are facing conflicting challenges associated with climate change and human interventions in landuse and landscape management. Research over the last decade has highlighted a global stabilisation pattern in coastal dunes, fuelling long-standing debates surrounding conservation approaches. Dune erosion can be considered an important process within a naturally functioning dune system, but also a management challenge. The fossorial behaviour of burrowing mammals within coastal dunes is one driver of erosion that has long tested our perspectives on natural processes within dunes, but is understudied in coastal dune conservation and research. This is particularly the case for the wild European rabbit, a common naturalised invader of dune systems.

In this study, the spatial distribution of wild European rabbits inhabiting a coastal dune system in Ireland is explored through geospatial mapping approaches using satellite and drone imagery, supported by spatial analyses and statistics. This reproducible approach has shown that rabbit activity fluctuates at inter-annual time scales that infer aligned changes in population, and that burrows clearly cluster in fixed dune habitats on landward slopes toward the rear of the dune system.

欧洲西北部的沿海沙丘系统正面临着与气候变化以及人类对土地利用和景观管理干预相关的相互矛盾的挑战。过去十年的研究强调了沿海沙丘的全球稳定模式，引发了围绕保护方法的长期争论。沙丘侵蚀可以被认为是自然运作的沙丘系统中的一个重要过程，但也是一个管理挑战。沿海沙丘内穴居哺乳动物的化石行为是侵蚀的驱动因素之一，长期以来一直考验着我们对沙丘内自然过程的看法，但在沿海沙丘保护和研究中尚未得到充分研究。对于野生欧洲兔来说尤其如此，它是沙丘系统常见的归化入侵者。

在这项研究中，通过使用卫星和无人机图像的地理空间测绘方法，在空间分析和统计的支持下，探索了居住在爱尔兰沿海沙丘系统的野生欧洲兔子的空间分布。这种可重复的方法表明，兔子的活动在年际时间尺度上波动，这推断出种群数量的一致变化，并且洞穴明显聚集在沙丘系统后部向陆斜坡上的固定沙丘栖息地中。