Population Size in Lynx Canadensis

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the factors that regulate the population size of the lynx canadensis, the Canadian lynx that is common to boreal forests in nearly all of Canada, Alaska and the northern contiguous United States. It specifically looks at environmental, predation, competition and food availability factors. The paper includes graphs in its explanations.

From the Paper:

"When the hare population begins to increase, the Lynx population follows the trend, as there is more prey available to feed on. Once the point where there are more hares being killed than are being born is reached, the prey population begins to fall. Due to the decreasing food supply, the Lynx population begins to suffer and declines as well. This is crucial in understanding why the lynx species does not grow out of control or suffer extinction (King & Schaffer 2001). During the low cycle of the hare population, the Lynx switches to hunting red squirrels; this shows the adaptive capabilities of the lynx that prevent the species from going completely extinct. However, as the hare population begins to rebound, the Lynx return to the hare as its primary source of prey and the cycle begins again (O'Donoghue et. al. 1998). The Lynx shows clear functional responses to changes in the densities of hares. Kill rates of the lynx varied from 0.3 to 1.2 hares per day, with the highest kill rate being one year after the peak in hare density (King & Schaffer 2001). This cyclic concept is illustrated in Figure 2."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Bunnell, Kevin D., Flinders, Jerran T., and Wolfe, Michael L. 2006. "Potential Impacts of Coyotes and Snowmobiles on Lynx Conservation in the Intermountain West". Wildlife Society Bulletin 34: 828-838.
• King, Aaron A., and Schaffer, William M. 2001. "The Geometry of a Population Cycle: A Mechanistic Model of Snowshoe Hare Demography". Ecology 82: 814-830.
• Molles, Manuel C. Jr. 2008. "Population Distribution and Abundance". Pages 210-230. Ecology: Concepts & Applications. McGraw-Hill, New York, New York, USA.
• Molles, Manuel C. Jr. 2008. "Exploitative Interactions: Predation, Herbivory, Parasitism, and Disease". Pages 320-346. Ecology: Concepts & Applications. McGraw-Hill, New York, New York, USA.
• O'Donoghue, Mark, Boutin, Stan, Krebs, Charles J., Zuleta, Gustavo, Murray, Dennis L., and Hofer, Elizabeth J. 1998. "Functional Response of Coyotes and Lynx to the Snowshoe Hare Cycle". Ecology 79: 1193-1208.

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