Comments on: Rare Lynx Spotted in Jasper National Park http://jasperjournal.com/wildlife/rare-lynx-spotted-in-jasper-national-park Travel resources for visiting Jasper National Park, Alberta, Canada Sat, 19 May 2012 09:05:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1 By: DH Wall http://jasperjournal.com/wildlife/rare-lynx-spotted-in-jasper-national-park/comment-page-1#comment-5518 DH Wall Sun, 01 Mar 2009 15:48:35 +0000 http://jasperjournal.com/?p=77#comment-5518 Not sure exactly but there's an interesting article here: http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=84 The article says this: "The lynx preys almost exclusively on the snowshoe hare. Since snowshoe hare populations follow a 10-year cycle, lynx numbers also fluctuate dramatically, building to a peak as hare populations increase, and then crashing. Scientists who have examined the fur-trading records of the Hudson’s Bay Company have been able to trace closely linked 10-year cycles of growth and decline in populations of the two species over the past 200 years." Then, a chart shows peaks every 10 years from 1845 to 1935 (the span of the fur trading records). If the peaks are continuing to follow the same cycle, it would seem logical that the peak was around 2005, would bottom in 2010 and peak again in 2015. However, scanning through some journal articles, it seems that the answer is more complicated. For a more scientific and modern explanation, several of Dr. Stanley A. Boutin's (University of Alberta) journal publications deal with the subject matter of the Canadian Lynx population. See here: http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/stan_boutin/?Pubs=Yes Not sure exactly but there’s an interesting article here: http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=84

The article says this:
“The lynx preys almost exclusively on the snowshoe hare. Since snowshoe hare populations follow a 10-year cycle, lynx numbers also fluctuate dramatically, building to a peak as hare populations increase, and then crashing. Scientists who have examined the fur-trading records of the Hudson’s Bay Company have been able to trace closely linked 10-year cycles of growth and decline in populations of the two species over the past 200 years.”

Then, a chart shows peaks every 10 years from 1845 to 1935 (the span of the fur trading records). If the peaks are continuing to follow the same cycle, it would seem logical that the peak was around 2005, would bottom in 2010 and peak again in 2015.

However, scanning through some journal articles, it seems that the answer is more complicated.

For a more scientific and modern explanation, several of Dr. Stanley A. Boutin’s (University of Alberta) journal publications deal with the subject matter of the Canadian Lynx population. See here:
http://www.biology.ualberta.ca/faculty/stan_boutin/?Pubs=Yes

]]> By: Nate Berg http://jasperjournal.com/wildlife/rare-lynx-spotted-in-jasper-national-park/comment-page-1#comment-5451 Nate Berg Tue, 24 Feb 2009 03:30:06 +0000 http://jasperjournal.com/?p=77#comment-5451 I study Canada lynx and snowshoe hares in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Just curious...is the snowshoe hare and lynx populations peaking in Alberta and elsewhere in Canada? Thanks in advance for your insight! I study Canada lynx and snowshoe hares in Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Just curious…is the snowshoe hare and lynx populations peaking in Alberta and elsewhere in Canada? Thanks in advance for your insight!

]]>