The lemming cycle at Baker Lake, N.W.T., during 1959-61 ...
A three year study covering one cycle in numbers of the brown and varying lemmings has been carried out at Baker Lake, Keewatin, N.W.T. An attempt was made to describe the events of the cycle in detail by snap trapping and live trapping techniques and by detailed autopsies on about 3U00 animals and...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of British Columbia
2011
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0302572 https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0302572 |
| Summary: | A three year study covering one cycle in numbers of the brown and varying lemmings has been carried out at Baker Lake, Keewatin, N.W.T. An attempt was made to describe the events of the cycle in detail by snap trapping and live trapping techniques and by detailed autopsies on about 3U00 animals and from this to determine what explanations would fit the observations. Increase began from very low numbers in the summer of 1959 with tremendous population growth occurring over the winter of 1959-60. Little further increase occurred in the peak summer of 1960. A great decline occurred over the winter of 1960-61, and this decline continued through the summer of 1961 on the Main Study Area. Two changes in reproduction were associated with this cycle--changes in the length of the breeding season and in the weight at sexual maturity. Winter breeding occurred only in the period of increase, and a shortened summer breeding season occurred in the peak and to some degree in the decline. Young male Lemmus matured in the ... |
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