Factors affecting hare–lynx dynamics in the classic time series of the Hudson Bay Company, Canada

Abstract

CR Climate Research Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials CR 34:83-89 (2007) - doi:10.3354/cr034083 Factors affecting hare–lynx dynamics in the classic time series of the Hudson Bay Company, Canada Zhibin Zhang1,*, Yi Tao2, Zhenqing Li3 1State Key Laboratory of Integrated Management on Pest Insects and Rodents in Agriculture, Institute of Zoology, and 2Key Laboratory of Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, PR China 3Laboratory of Quantitative Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093, PR China *Email: zhangzb@ioz.ac.cn ABSTRACT: The 10 yr hare–lynx (Lepus americanus– Lynx canadensis) cycles in boreal forest of North America have been well known for >100 yr, but the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood. Prey–predator interactions are generally thought to be the major causative factor for the cycle. The effect of climate on the hare–lynx cycle has been largely ignored. By using partial cross correlation and stepwise multiple regression methods, we re-analyzed the Hudson Bay Company’s well known hare–lynx time series (1847–1903), to evaluate effects of intrinsic self-regulation, prey–predator interactions and El Niño/ Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on hare–lynx dynamics. Our results clearly indicate that the widely cited classic hare–lynx dynamic is mostly explained by intrinsic self-regulation factors, instead of by prey–predator interaction; ENSO has small effects on rates of increase in hare and lynx populations. Snow hare · Lepus americanus · Canadian lynx · Lynx canadensis · PreyÐpredator interaction · ENSO · SOI · Population outbreaks · Self-regulation Full text in pdf format NextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in CR Vol. 34, No. 2. Online publication date: July 19, 2007 Print ISSN: 0936-577X; Online ISSN: 1616-1572 Copyright © 2007 Inter-Research.