TY  - STD
AU  - Florent Domine, Gilles Gauthier
PY  - 2018//
TI  - Snow physical properties may be a significant determinant of lemming population dynamics in the high Arctic – Arctic Science
N2  - Cyclic population fluctuations are common in boreal and Arctic species but the<br />causes of these cycles are still debated today. Among these species, lemmings are Arctic<br />rodents that live and reproduce under the snow and whose large cyclical population fluctuations<br />in the high Arctic impact the whole tundra food web. We explore, using lemming<br />population data and snow modeling, whether the hardness of the basal layer of the snowpack,<br />determined by rain-on-snow events (ROS) and wind storms in autumn, can affect<br />brown lemming population dynamics in the Canadian high Arctic. Using a 7-year dataset<br />collected on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada over the period 2003–2014, we demonstrate<br />that liquid water input to snow is strongly inversely related with winter population growth<br />(R2 ≥ 0.62) and to a lesser extent to lemming summer densities and winter nest densities<br />(R2 = 0.29–0.39). ROS in autumn can therefore influence the amplitude of brown lemming<br />population fluctuations. Increase in ROS events with climate warming should strongly<br />impact the populations of lemmings and consequently those of the many predators that<br />depend upon them. Snow conditions may be a key factor influencing the cyclic dynamics<br />of Arctic animal populations.
L1  - http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/files/yes
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2018-0008
N1  - exported from refbase (http://publi.ipev.fr/polar_references/show.php?record=7511), last updated on Tue, 30 Nov 1999 00:00:00 +0100
ID  - FlorentDomine2018
ER  -