Population cycles of lemmings near Barrow, Alaska: a historical review

Abstract

Current hypotheses regarding the causes of population cycling of brown lemmingsLemmus trimucronatus (Richardson, 1828), developed during long-term studies from 1950–1974. We maintain that three factors largely determine the timing and amplitude of population cycles in brown lemmings. First, a basic interaction between lemmings and vegetation sets the stage because dense populations of lemmings severely damage the vegetation, at which point lemming populations decline and remain low until the vegetation recovers. Second, opportunistic predators, mainly jaegers and owls, assemble as the snow melts during peak years and drive already declining populations to extremely low densities. Weasels are effective predators under the snow, but they appear irregularly. If weasel populations increase early in the cycle, lemming populations that normally increase dramatically during the winter in a peak year can be decimated before the snow melts. Finally, both wet summers that result in extensive flooding of the preferred habits of lemmings and freezing rains or winter thaws that cause ice formation reduce food availability, disrupt the cycle and extend the period between peak densities. Numerous observations, experimental results and simulation models support these views. Similar results regarding the importance of the available food supply, particularly in winter, and of the predation regime also have been reported for arvicoline populations at lower latitudes.