Seven Questions about the 10-year Cycle of Snowshoe Hares in Canada’s Yukon

Friday seminar by Charles Krebs

Abstract

After a brief introduction to the ten-year cycle of snowshoe hares, I ask and try to answer 7 questions. (1) Are snowshoe hare populations limited by winter food supplies? (2) What demographic changes drive hare cycles? (3) What drives the reproductive changes during the cycle? (4) Could predators drive changes in reproduction? (5) What causes predator cycles? (6) What causes spatial synchrony of hare cycles? And (7) What causes amplitude variations in hare cycles? What next? Two items will be discussed briefly. First, a large spatial study of predator movements in relation to the hare cycle. Second, an analysis of how climate change might impact hare populations.

Charles J. Krebs
Professor Emeritus
Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia

Published Sep. 15, 2014 11:07 AM - Last modified Sep. 15, 2014 11:09 AM