Ground-penetrating radar: a technique for investigating the burrow structures of fossorial vertebrates

Abstract

Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) was tested as a technique to map the subterranean tunnels of the European rabbit, as a representative fossorial vertebrate. The technique readily located tunnels separated by at least 1 m in a dry coarse compacted sandy soil, but images of tunnels less than 0.4 m apart were fused. GPR was of no use in a highly saline, sandy light-clay soil. GPR is a non-invasive technique by which the routes of isolated blind-ending tunnels of any length can be ascertained, even in unstable soil.