Population cycles

Christian, J.S. (1950). The adreno-pituitary system and population cycles in mammals. Journal of Mammalogy 31,247-259. 

Many population cycles have the unusual property that their period length remains remarkably constant while their abundance levels are highly erratic. Fig. 15.8a demonstrates these features for one of the most celebrated time series in Ecology - the Canadian hare-lynx cycle. In [28, 29] is was shown that such more complex oscillations can be achieved in simple predator-prey models by including more trophic levels. To describe the main dynamics of the lynx the following ecological foodweb model was presented... 

TURCHIN, P., TAYLOR, A.D., REEVE, J.D., Dynamical role of predators in population cycles of a forest Insect an experimental test.. Science, 1999, 285,1068-1070. 

It has been observed that various species of cicadas reappear every 7, 13, or 17 years, periods that are prime numbers. It has been speculated that makes them statistically less vulnerable to their predators, which typically have 2-, 3-, 4- or 6-year population cycles. 

FIGURE 6.20.3 One-hundred-year record of population cycles of the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus) and the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis), based on pelt records of the Hudson s Bay Company in Canada. Lack of anticipation in predator-prey systems lead to unstable population oscillations. (From Gotelli, N.J., A Primer of Ecology, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA, 1998. With permission.)... 

Avoiding predator cycles. Predator numbers are likely to rise and fall periodically at some few number of years (see Section 6.17.2). The 17-year cycle, being a prime number, has the advantage that it will not likely become resonant with predator population cycles. 

Getz, L. L. 1978. Speculation on social structure and population cycles of microtine rodents. Biologist, 60, 134-147. 

Schadler M. H. 1990. Social organization and population control in the pine vole, Microtus pinetorum. In Social Systems and Population Cycles in Voles (Ed. by R. H. Tamarin, R. S. Ostfeld, S. R. Pugh G. Bujalska), pp. 121—130. Basel Birkhauser Verlag. 

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