Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon?
Small mammals in boreal forest ecosystems fluctuate dramatically in abundance and 1 possible mechanism to explain these changes is the bottom-up hypothesis of variation in food supplies. Here we ask if variation in berry crops produced by 6 major species of dwarf shrubs and herbs, epigeous mushroom...
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fthighwire:oai:open-archive.highwire.org:jmammal:91/2/500 2023-05-15T16:06:05+02:00 Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? Krebs, Charles J. Cowcill, Kevan Boonstra, Rudy Kenney, Alice J. 2010-04-16 00:00:00.0 text/html http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/91/2/500 https://doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-005.1 en eng Oxford University Press http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/91/2/500 http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-005.1 Copyright (C) 2010, Oxford University Press Feature Articles TEXT 2010 fthighwire https://doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-005.1 2015-02-28T17:52:16Z Small mammals in boreal forest ecosystems fluctuate dramatically in abundance and 1 possible mechanism to explain these changes is the bottom-up hypothesis of variation in food supplies. Here we ask if variation in berry crops produced by 6 major species of dwarf shrubs and herbs, epigeous mushroom crops, and white spruce seeds allow us to predict changes in the abundance of the red-backed vole ( Myodes [= Clethrionomys ] rutilus ), the deer mouse ( Peromyscus maniculatus ), and field voles ( Microtus oeconomus and M. pennsylvanicus combined) over 13 years (1997–2009) in the Kluane Lake region of the southwestern Yukon, Canada. M. rutilus is the dominant rodent in these forests, comprising 64% of the catch. Overwinter survival is a key demographic variable in all these rodents, and the winter food supply—principally berries produced the previous summer— may be 1 key to overwinter survival. We predicted that berry, mushroom, and tree seed crops in year t would produce changes in rodent density in year t + 1. We could explain statistically 78–98% of the variation in May and August abundance of all 3 rodent species with indices of berry crops and mushrooms in the previous summer. For M. rutilus the critical predictor was berry crops of Empetrum nigrum . For P. maniculatus , the critical species were Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, A. rubra , and mushrooms. Spruce seed crops were not significantly correlated with rodent densities or changes in density. A large fraction of the variation in rodent numbers in this ecosystem is explained by a simple bottom-up model of population limitation. Text Empetrum nigrum Yukon HighWire Press (Stanford University) Yukon Canada Kluane Lake ENVELOPE(-138.773,-138.773,61.261,61.261) Journal of Mammalogy 91 2 500 509 |
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HighWire Press (Stanford University) |
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English |
topic |
Feature Articles |
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Feature Articles Krebs, Charles J. Cowcill, Kevan Boonstra, Rudy Kenney, Alice J. Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? |
topic_facet |
Feature Articles |
description |
Small mammals in boreal forest ecosystems fluctuate dramatically in abundance and 1 possible mechanism to explain these changes is the bottom-up hypothesis of variation in food supplies. Here we ask if variation in berry crops produced by 6 major species of dwarf shrubs and herbs, epigeous mushroom crops, and white spruce seeds allow us to predict changes in the abundance of the red-backed vole ( Myodes [= Clethrionomys ] rutilus ), the deer mouse ( Peromyscus maniculatus ), and field voles ( Microtus oeconomus and M. pennsylvanicus combined) over 13 years (1997–2009) in the Kluane Lake region of the southwestern Yukon, Canada. M. rutilus is the dominant rodent in these forests, comprising 64% of the catch. Overwinter survival is a key demographic variable in all these rodents, and the winter food supply—principally berries produced the previous summer— may be 1 key to overwinter survival. We predicted that berry, mushroom, and tree seed crops in year t would produce changes in rodent density in year t + 1. We could explain statistically 78–98% of the variation in May and August abundance of all 3 rodent species with indices of berry crops and mushrooms in the previous summer. For M. rutilus the critical predictor was berry crops of Empetrum nigrum . For P. maniculatus , the critical species were Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, A. rubra , and mushrooms. Spruce seed crops were not significantly correlated with rodent densities or changes in density. A large fraction of the variation in rodent numbers in this ecosystem is explained by a simple bottom-up model of population limitation. |
format |
Text |
author |
Krebs, Charles J. Cowcill, Kevan Boonstra, Rudy Kenney, Alice J. |
author_facet |
Krebs, Charles J. Cowcill, Kevan Boonstra, Rudy Kenney, Alice J. |
author_sort |
Krebs, Charles J. |
title |
Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? |
title_short |
Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? |
title_full |
Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? |
title_fullStr |
Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern Yukon? |
title_sort |
do changes in berry crops drive population fluctuations in small rodents in the southwestern yukon? |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2010 |
url |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/91/2/500 https://doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-005.1 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-138.773,-138.773,61.261,61.261) |
geographic |
Yukon Canada Kluane Lake |
geographic_facet |
Yukon Canada Kluane Lake |
genre |
Empetrum nigrum Yukon |
genre_facet |
Empetrum nigrum Yukon |
op_relation |
http://jmammal.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/91/2/500 http://dx.doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-005.1 |
op_rights |
Copyright (C) 2010, Oxford University Press |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1644/09-MAMM-A-005.1 |
container_title |
Journal of Mammalogy |
container_volume |
91 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
500 |
op_container_end_page |
509 |
_version_ |
1766402007140139008 |