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Seasonality, density dependence, and population cycles in Hokkaido voles
Nils Chr Stenseth1, Hildegunn Viljugrein, Takashi Saitoh
1Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biology, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1031 Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway. n.c.stenseth@bio.uio.no
Abstract:
Voles and lemmings show extensive variation in population dynamics regulated across and within species. In an attempt to develop and test generic hypotheses explaining these differences, we studied 84 populations of the gray-sided vole (Clethrionomys rufocanus) in Hokkaido, Japan. We show that these populations are limited by a combination of density-independent factors (such as climate) and density-dependent processes (such as specialist predators). We show that density-dependent regulation primarily occurs in winter months, so that populations experiencing longer winters tend to have a stronger delayed density-dependence and, as a result, exhibit regular density cycles. Altogether, we demonstrate that seasonality plays a key role in determining whether a vole population is cyclic or not.
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