Summary
A snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) population on a 9-ha area was supplied with extra natural food by chopping down large white spruce (Picea glauca) and aspen (Populus tremuloides) trees throughout 3 winters from 1981 to 1984. Hares fed vigorously on the downed trees, but the phase of decline of the ten-year cycle occurred equally on control and experimental grids from 1981–1983, and we could detect no improvement in survival or reproduction on the food area. Growth rates were improved on the food grid during the first winter of the decline (1981–82). We concluded that food shortage is not necessary for the cyclic decline of snowshoe hares in the southern Yukon.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Boutin S (1980) Effect of spring removal experiments on the spacing behavior of female snowshoe hares. Canad J Zool 58:2167–2174
Boutin S (1983) Factors affecting juvenile survival and dispersal in snowshoe hares. Ph. D. thesis, University of British Columbia
Boutin S (1984) Effect of late winter food addition on numbers and movements of snowshoe hares. Oecologia (Berlin) 62:393–400
Bryant J (1981) The regulation of snowshoe hare feeding behaviour during winter by plant antiherbivore chemistry. In: Proceedings of World Lagomorph Conference, August 1979, Guelph, Ontario, Myers K, MacInnes CD (ed) pp 720–731
Cole FR, Batzli GO (1978) Influence of supplemental feeding on a vole population. J Mammal 59:809–819
Keith LB (1983) Role of food in hare population cycles. Oikos 40:385–395
Keith LB, Windberg LA (1978) A demographic analysis of the snowshoe hare cycle. Wildlife Monogr No 58:1–70
Keith LB, Cary JR, Rongstad OJ, Brittingham MC (1984) Demography and ecology of a declining snowshoe hare population. Wildlife Monogr No 90:1–43
Krebs CJ, Gilbert BS, Boutin S, Sinclair ARE, Smith JNM (1986) Population biology of snowshoe hares. I. Demography of populations in the southern Yukon, 1976–1984. J Anim Ecol (in press)
Seber GAF (1982) The estimation of animal abundance. 2nd ed. Charles Griffin and Co. Ltd, London
Sinclair ARE, Smith JNM (1984) Do plant secondary compounds determine feeding preferences of snowshoe hares? Oecologia (Berlin) 61:403–410
Sinclair ARE, Krebs CJ, Smith JNM (1982) Diet quality and food limitation in herbivores: the case of the snowshoe hare. Canad J Zool 60:889–897
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Krebs, C.J., Boutin, S. & Gilbert, B.S. A natural feeding experiment on a declining snowshoe hare population. Oecologia 70, 194–197 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379239
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379239