Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 31 October 2003:
Vol. 302. no. 5646, pp. 866 - 868
DOI: 10.1126/science.1087509
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Cyclic Dynamics in a Simple Vertebrate Predator-Prey Community

Olivier Gilg,1,2* Ilkka Hanski,1 Benoît Sittler3

The collared lemming in the high-Arctic tundra in Greenland is preyed upon by four species of predators that show marked differences in the numbers of lemmings each consumes and in the dependence of their dynamics on lemming density. A predatorprey model based on the field-estimated predator responses robustly predicts 4-year periodicity in lemming dynamics, in agreement with long-term empirical data. There is no indication in the field that food or space limits lemming population growth, nor is there need in the model to consider those factors. The cyclic dynamics are driven by a 1-year delay in the numerical response of the stoat and stabilized by strongly density-dependent predation by the arctic fox, the snowy owl, and the long-tailed skua.

1 Department of Ecology and Systematics, Division of Population Biology, Post Office Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland.
2 CBGP, Campus de Baillarguet, Equipe Biologie et Gestion des Pullulations (INRA-IRD), CS 30016, 34988 Montferrier/Lez Cedex, France.
3 Institut für Landespflege, University of Freiburg, 79085 Freiburg, Germany.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: olivier.gilg{at}libertysurf.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Stoats (Mustela erminea) provide evidence of natural overland colonization of Ireland.
N. Martinkova, R. A McDonald, and J. B Searle (2007)
Proc R Soc B 274, 1387-1393
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fading out of vole and predator cycles?.
B. Hornfeldt, T. Hipkiss, and U. Eklund (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 2045-2049
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Trophic Interactions in a High Arctic Snow Goose Colony.
G. Gauthier, J. Bety, J.-F. Giroux, and L. Rochefort (2004)
Integr. Comp. Biol. 44, 119-129
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)