Berry production and red-backed voles at Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory ...

• Main Author: Cowcill, Kevan Anthony
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2010
• Subjects: Empetrum nigrum; Yukon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0092514; https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0092514

Northern red-backed vole populations peak two to three years after snowshoe hare populations peak. Snowshoe hares cycle on a 9 to 11 year cycle and produced a large quantity of fecal pellets in their peak years. The fecal nutrient enrichment hypothesis surmises nitrogen (N) that is released from these pellets is captured by shrubs whose berries are critical food sources for the red-backed voles. These shrubs use the N to produce a large crop of berries that will provide an overwintering food supply for the voles, and reduce their overwintering mortality, resulting in an increase in red-backed vole densities in the spring. To simulate N levels provided by hare pellets I added 0.5, 1.0, 2.0, 4.0 and 17.5 g N/m² to 60 plots each of Empetrum nigrum, Arctostaphylos rubra, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, Shepherdia canadensis, and Geocaulon lividum in 2004 and 2005 to determine if I could produce an abundant berry crop in 2005. Only E. nigrum had a significant increase in berry production at 1.0 g N/m². Weather ...