Snowshoe Hare Case Study

In this report I will be discussing different causes which contribute to the population change of the snowshoe hare and lynx. The snowshoe hare is known for its constant decrease and increase in population density every 10 years. By looking at why and when they increase and decrease compared to when the lynx population decrease and increase we can see if the lynx depend of the hare as their main source of food.
Snowshoe hares population began to drastically decline in 1831, due to the limited numbers of hare this caused the lynx’s population to decrease due to starvation and malnutrition. The decline in hares then happened every 10 years.
Peak time of prey was in 1997-1999 due to highest rates of reproduction and lowest rates in mortality. During these summers hares would have three to four litters of young per summer, due to the r strategic breeding the hare’s population went up drastically as there was a lower percent of mortality in young. …show more content…
In the summer the food would have many nutrients in it causing the young to be healthier and have more of a chance of survival. However food in the winter caused a lot of adults to die due to the both the lack of food and the poor quality. Hares were not affected by the nutrients added into the soil which led them to over graze food in the winter to get more energy. In the winter the secondary chemicals; tannins and resins would increase in shrub casing the animal to avoid eating it or getting ill if they did (this made them easy prey items). The decline in numbers would hit in winter due to starvation, once winter was over there was little food growing due to them overgrazing which would cause the numbers to drastically fall. The hare population would hit a nadir 1-2 years after the peak. When this happened there was a shortage of food for the lynx, this caused them to die from malnutrition and starvation and would then cause the decline in their