Title: What Drives the 10-year Cycle of Snowshoe Hares in Canada's Yukon?
Speaker: Prof. Charles J. Krebs
(Professor Emeritus, Department of Zoology
University of British Columbia, Canada)
Host: Prof. Chen Jin, XTBG
Time: March 15, 2010 08:30am
Venue: The 3rd floor meeting room in the main administration building
The 1st floor meeting room in Kunming division (video conference)
Sponsor: Dept. of Program Management & Foreign Affairs
Abstract: The boreal forest is one of the great ecosystems of the earth, and the ten-year snowshoe hare population cycle is one of the most striking features of this ecosystem. After 70 years of questionnaire research, time series analysis, and field experiments we now have a good understanding of the dynamics behind the hare cycle and the importance of predation and food supplies in regulating the cycle. I will briefly review the experiments we have carried out in the Yukon during the last 35 years, and explore their implications. The snowshoe hare is a keystone species in the boreal forest and if it should disappear because of climate change or direct human impacts, many species of predators would disappear with it and the structure of the plant community would be altered substantially. The means by which climate change could affect snowshoe hares will be explored briefly.
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