Moose and snowshoe hare competition and a mechanistic explanation from foraging theory

Moose ( Alces alces ) and snowshoe hare ( Lepus americanus ) appear to compete with each other. This was determined using the “natural experiments” of populations found in sympatry and allopatry on islands at Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, and manipulated exclosures. The population densities f...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Oecologia
Main Author: Belovsky, Gary E.
Other Authors: School of Natural Resources, The University of Michigan, 48109, Ann Arbor, MI, USA, Ann Arbor
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Springer-Verlag 1984
Subjects:
Ecology
Life Sciences
Plant Sciences
Natural Resources and Environment
Molecular
Cellular and Developmental Biology
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Health Sciences
Science
Alces alces
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2027.42/47750
https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00396753
Description
Summary:Moose ( Alces alces ) and snowshoe hare ( Lepus americanus ) appear to compete with each other. This was determined using the “natural experiments” of populations found in sympatry and allopatry on islands at Isle Royale National Park, Michigan, and manipulated exclosures. The population densities from these areas are fit to a series of competition models based upon different competitive mechanisms (Schoener 1974a), using non-linear regression techniques. A model of competition for food where the food can be separated into exclusively used and shared categories is found to predict observed densities of moose and hare best. Finally, the competition model's parameters (fraction of food shared and competition coefficients) are shown to agree with values predicted independently from a foraging model. Peer Reviewed http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47750/1/442_2004_Article_BF00396753.pdf

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