Danell, Kjell
- Department of Animal Ecology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Lemming populations are generally characterised by their cyclic nature, yet empirical data to support this are lacking for most species, largely because of the time and expense necessary to collect long-term population data. In this study we use the relative frequency of yearly willow scarring by lemmings as an index of lemming abundance, allowing us to plot population changes over a 34-year period. Scars were collected from 18 sites in Arctic North America separated by 2-1,647 km to investigate local synchrony among separate populations. Over the period studied, populations at all 18 sites showed large fluctuations but there was no regular periodicity to the patterns of population change. Over all possible combinations of pairs of sites, only sites that were geographically connected and close (
Published in
Oecologia
2001, volume: 126, number: 2, pages: 216-224
Publisher: SPRINGER-VERLAG
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Environmental Sciences and Nature Conservation
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s004420000516
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/6284