Editing Rabbits in Australia (section)

==Effects on Australia's ecology==
[[File:Rabbit-erosion.jpg|thumb|right|The erosion of a gully in South Australia caused by rabbits overgrazing]]
Since their introduction from Europe in the 19th century, the effect of rabbits on the ecology of Australia has been devastating. They are suspected of being the most significant known factor in species loss in Australia.<ref name=":0">{{cite journal |last=Cooke |first=Brain D. |date=2012 |title=Rabbits: manageable environmental pests or participants in new Australian ecosystems? |url= |journal=Wildlife Research |volume=39 |issue=4 |pages=279–289 |doi=10.1071/WR11166 |s2cid=86639733}}</ref> Rabbits are believed to have had an immense impact on the abundance of natural resource availability, primarily concerning [[overgrazing]]. The rabbits would first deplete the natural pasture vegetation, and would then resort to consuming woody vegetation, which included small shrubs, and the leaves and bark of trees.<ref name=":0"/> The extent of plant species' loss is unknown at this time, though rabbits are known to often kill young trees in orchards, forests, and on properties by [[ringbarking]] them.<ref name="ReferenceA">Australian Encyclopaedia, Vol, VII, Grolier Society, Sydney</ref>

Rabbits are also responsible for serious [[erosion]] problems, as they eat native plants, leaving the [[topsoil]] exposed and vulnerable to sheet, gully, and wind erosion. The removal of this topsoil is devastating to the land, as it takes many hundreds of years to regenerate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/173733/Rtn08a.pdf |title=Environmental Damage caused by Rabbits |access-date=29 October 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121218144317/http://www.pir.sa.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/173733/Rtn08a.pdf |archive-date=18 December 2012}}</ref>