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Stenseth, N.C.
Canada hare-lynx dynamics and climate variation: need for further interdisciplinary work on the interface between ecology and climate
2007 Climate research (34): 1-2
The regular population cycles in the abundance of Canadian hare and lynx is featured in nearly all biology textbooks. It is used by ecologists as a prime example of how interactions between predators (the lynx) and prey (the hare) might lead to regular population cycles. In addition, such interactions might also lead to non-cyclic population dynamic behaviour (e.g. May 1973). Although climate is known to affect the underlying nature of these population cycles, it is not fully understood to what extent climate contributes to the character of the dynamic hare-lynx population interaction. In fact, the extent of the climate influence on dynamic ecological systems has been passionately debated within the field of ecology for almost a century.
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