Research overview: climate-disease interactions in the Iberian lynx prey base

European rabbit dynamics in Iberia are governed by an interaction of climate, vegetation, and disease, all of which bear on Iberian lynx survival. This overview surveys how temperature and rainfall influence rabbit breeding, forage, and the seasonal transmission of myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease, and how warming, drying Mediterranean conditions may shift the timing and severity of prey crashes. It reviews modeling that links climate scenarios to rabbit abundance and onward to lynx carrying capacity. The synthesis frames the lynx as the apex of a climate-sensitive disease-prey system, explaining why projections for this cat must integrate epidemiology, climate, and habitat rather than treating habitat shift in isolation.