Winter diet, habitat selection and fluctuation of a mountain hare Lepus timidus population in Finnish Forest Lapland

• Published in: Ecography
• Main Authors: Pulliainen, Erkki, Tunkkari, Paavo S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1987
• Subjects: Lepus timidus; mountain hare; Lapland
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1987.tb00767.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1600-0587.1987.tb00767.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1600-0587.1987.tb00767.x

Composition of the winter diet, habitat selection and population fluctuations in the mountain hare Lepus timidus were studied in the Värriötunturi fell area, Eastern Finnish Forest Lapland, during the winters 1968/69–1984/85. The three population lows recorded during this 17‐year period followed each other at intervals of 4 and 8 years. During the lows the hares occurred only in the most favoured (forest‐covered) habitats and in two of them they behaved according to the concept of the refuge theory. The mountain birch Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa appeared to be the most important, but not the most favoured winter food item. When the population crashed, the proportion of birch in the diet decreased, and was replaced especially by juniper which is one of the secondary food items (and is for this reason often discarded although cut). It is suggested that the quality and/or quantity of the winter food (i.e. winter pastures) are one of the driving forces in the population fluctuation of the mountain hare in this area.