Demography of snowshoe hare population cycles

Ecology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 101 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Madan K. Oli ◽  
Charles J. Krebs ◽  
Alice J. Kenney ◽  
Rudy Boonstra ◽  
Stan Boutin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Cycles ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Hare Population

scholarly journals Estimating abundance, temporary emigration and the pattern of density dependence in a cyclic snowshoe hare population in Yukon, Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madan K. Oli ◽  
Alice J. Kenney ◽  
Rudy Boonstra ◽  
Stan Boutin ◽  
Vratika Chaudhary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Population Density ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Seasonal Pattern ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Population Cycles ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Temporary Emigration ◽  
Cyclical Fluctuation ◽  
Hare Population

Estimates of demographic parameters based on capture-mark-recapture (CMR) methods may be biased when some individuals in the population are temporarily unavailable for capture (temporary emigration). We estimated snowshoe hare abundance, apparent survival, and probability of temporary emigration in a population of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus Erxleben 1777) in the Yukon using Pollock’s robust design CMR model, and population density using spatially-explicit CMR models. Survival rates strongly varied among cyclic phases, seasons, and across five population cycles. We found strong evidence that temporary emigration was Markovian (i.e., non-random), suggesting that it varied among individuals that were temporary emigrant in the previous sampling period and those that were present in the sampled area. The probability of temporary emigration for individuals that were in the study area during the previous sampling occasion (γ´´) varied among cycles. Probability that individuals that were temporarily absent from the sampled area would remain temporary emigrants (γ´) showed strongly seasonal pattern, low in winter and high during summers. Snowshoe hare population density ranged from 0.017 (0.015–0.05) hares/ha to 4.43 (3.90–5.00) hares/ha and large-scale cyclical fluctuation. Autocorrelation functions and autoregressive analyses revealed that our study population exhibited statistically significant cyclic fluctuations, with a periodicity of 9-10 years.

A Correlation Analysis of Weather versus Snowshoe Hare Population Parameters

1971 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Charles Meslow ◽  
Lloyd B. Keith
Keyword(s):  
Correlation Analysis ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Population Parameters ◽  
Hare Population

Impact of helminth parasitism on a snowshoe hare population in central Wisconsin: a field experiment

1995 ◽  
Vol 73 (10) ◽  
pp. 1891-1898 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara E. M. Bloomer ◽  
Thomas Willebrand ◽  
Ingegerd M. Keith ◽  
Lloyd B. Keith
Keyword(s):  
Survival Rates ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Marrow Fat ◽  
Proximate Cause ◽  
Risk Of Death ◽  
Snowshoe Hares ◽  
Condition Indices ◽  
Time Specific ◽  
And Control ◽  
Hare Population

We tested the hypothesis that helminth parasitism is demographically significant to a noncyclic population of snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) near the species' geographic boundary in central Wisconsin (U.S.A.). During November 1988 to December 1991, we injected 93 individuals (≥760 g, aged ≥2 months) with anthelmintics: Ivermectin for nematode and Droncit for cestode infections. We injected 98 control hares with propylene glycol, the common vehicle for both drugs. All treated and control hares were radio-collared with mortality-sensing transmitters and monitored daily to weekly from the ground or air. Prevalence and intensity of lungworms (Protostrongylus boughtoni), intestinal worms (Nematodirus triangularis), and stomach worms (Obeliscoides cuniculi) were markedly reduced by Ivermectin treatment. No other nematodes were found to be present. Treatment with Droncit to remove intestinal cestodes was apparently unnecessary, as prevalence among necropsied untreated hares and controls was just 10%. We compared body-condition indices (mass changes, response to trap stress, and bone-marrow fat), reproduction (pregnancy rate and litter size), home-range sizes, and time-specific survival rates of anthelmintic-treated versus control hares. None of these demographic variables differed significantly between treated and control cohorts, nor was there any evidence that parasitism increased the risk of death from predation, which was the proximate cause of 96% of all natural mortalities. We conclude that helminth parasitism played no detectable role in the dynamics of this Wisconsin snowshoe hare population.

Forest-Fire Regime: The Missing Link to Understand Snowshoe Hare Population Fluctuations?

2008 ◽  
pp. 141-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jean Ferron ◽  
Martin-Hugues St-Laurent
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Population Fluctuations ◽  
Missing Link ◽  
Hare Population

Influence of forest herbicide on snowshoe hare population dynamics: reproduction, growth, and survival

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-119 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas P. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Body Mass ◽  
Demographic Parameters ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Physiological Processes ◽  
Adult Females ◽  
Breeding Condition ◽  
Glyphosate Herbicide ◽  
Hare Population ◽  
Treatment Population

This study was designed to assess the influence of forest applications of glyphosate herbicide on reproduction, growth, and survival in snowshoe hare (Lepusamericanus Erxleben) populations in control (reference) and treatment habitats near Prince George, B.C. Proportion of adult hares in breeding condition and number of successful pregnancies showed no consistent differences between control and treatment populations. Recruitment of hares was generally similar except for significantly more juvenile females entering the control than treatment population at one study area. At a second study area, total recruitment was significantly higher in the treatment than control population for both sexes in 1990 and for adult females in 1991, the 2 post-treatment years. There was little difference in survival of hares between control and treatment populations. Lack of significant differences in mean body mass and growth rates suggested that this herbicide treatment had little or no effect on metabolic or general physiological processes in the development of young hares. Similar profiles of body mass distribution between control and treatment populations indicated that comparable levels of biomass of hares were available as prey for predators. Use of this forest herbicide did not measurably affect demographic parameters of snowshoe hare populations.

Demographic Parameters of a Snowshoe Hare Population

1968 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 812 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Charles Meslow ◽  
Lloyd B. Keith
Keyword(s):  
Demographic Parameters ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Hare Population

Reproductive change in the 10-year cycle of snowshoe hares

1979 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 375-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Cary ◽  
Lloyd B. Keith
Keyword(s):  
Pregnancy Rate ◽  
Litter Size ◽  
Weight Change ◽  
Ovulation Rate ◽  
Population Cycle ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Cyclic Variation ◽  
Reproductive Parameters ◽  
Snowshoe Hares ◽  
Hare Population

Reproduction was monitored during a 16-year study of snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) populations near Rochester, Alberta. Pregnancy rate, ovulation rate, and litter size changed markedly between successive litters within the breeding season; these parameters were thus further categorized by litter in our analyses. Most reproductive components varied significantly between years; a significant '10-year' periodicity was the dominant source of this variation. The cyclic fluctuations of reproductive parameters were broadly synchronous and tended to precede the population cycle by about 3 years, thereby producing a range in potential natality annually of 7.5 to 17.9 young per female. The year-to-year variability of pregnancy rate, ovulation rate, and litter size was markedly larger in the later litters than in the early ones. Paunched weight, mean age, incidence of endoparasites, liver and spleen weights, and midwinter-to-spring weight change also possessed significant 10-year cycles; paunched weight cycled directly with the hare population, but the others cycled either directly with or counter to reproduction. We believe that the correspondence between midwinter-to-spring weight change and reproduction implicates winter nutrition as the primary cause of the cyclic variation. Onset of spring accounted for a significant amount of variability in onset of breeding, adding to that due to the periodic change.

Influence of Stand Thinning on Snowshoe Hare Population Dynamics and Feeding Damage in Lodgepole Pine Forest

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 791 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. P. Sullivan ◽  
D. S. Sullivan
Keyword(s):  
Population Dynamics ◽  
Lodgepole Pine ◽  
Pine Forest ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Feeding Damage ◽  
Stand Thinning ◽  
Hare Population

Modelling the Canada lynx and snowshoe hare population cycle: the role of specialist predators

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 97-111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Tyson ◽  
Sheena Haines ◽  
Karen E. Hodges
Keyword(s):  
Population Cycle ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Canada Lynx ◽  
Specialist Predators ◽  
Hare Population

An assessment of overwinter food limitation in a snowshoe hare population at a cyclic low

Oecologia ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 120 (1) ◽  
pp. 50-58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis L. Murray
Keyword(s):  
Food Limitation ◽  
Snowshoe Hare ◽  
Hare Population
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document