🧬 The Felid Wiki — 3,000 research summaries

The companion to their numerical-response study, this paper measured how the kill rate of individual lynx and coyotes changed with snowshoe hare density across the Kluane cycle. O'Donoghue and colleag…

O'Donoghue, M., Boutin, S., Krebs, C.J., Zuleta, G., Murray, D.L. & Hofer, E.J. · Ecology · 1998

This large-scale Kluane field experiment in the Yukon manipulated food (supplemental feeding) and predation (predator exclusion fencing) across replicated one-square-kilometre blocks to dissect what d…

Krebs, C.J., Boutin, S., Boonstra, R., Sinclair, A.R.E. et al. · Science · 1995

Part of the Kluane Boreal Forest Ecosystem Project, this study tracked how lynx and coyote densities changed across a full snowshoe hare cycle. O'Donoghue and colleagues documented strong numerical re…

O'Donoghue, M., Boutin, S., Krebs, C.J. & Hofer, E.J. · Ecology · 1997

Stenseth and colleagues applied nonlinear time-series analysis to the long lynx fur-return records and hare data to ask what structures the famous cycle. They found that the lynx series is best descri…

Stenseth, N.C., Falck, W., Bjornstad, O.N. & Krebs, C.J. · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 1997

A survey of how the distribution and southern range limit of Canada lynx are governed by the availability and dynamics of snowshoe hares. Lynx are tightly tied to boreal forests where hares are abunda…

A survey of the role that secondary prey such as red squirrels, grouse and microtine rodents play in the dynamics of the snowshoe hare cycle and its lynx predators. When hares are abundant, predators…

An overview of how a warming climate may disrupt the snowshoe hare cycle and the lynx that depend on it. Changes in snow cover threaten the seasonal camouflage of hares, potentially increasing their p…

A survey of how Holling's functional-response framework is applied to cats to describe how their per-capita kill rate changes with prey density. Most felids are thought to show a saturating Type II re…

A survey of the lethal interactions between cats and dogs that share prey and space, a major structuring force in carnivore communities. Lions and hyenas kill wild dogs and cheetahs; pumas and coyotes…

An overview of the competitive relationship between Canada lynx and coyotes, both of which prey on snowshoe hares across much of the boreal forest. During hare highs the two predators overlap heavily…

An overview of how Canada lynx populations rise and fall in response to snowshoe hare abundance, the numerical-response half of the famous cycle. As hares increase, lynx reproduction and kitten surviv…

An overview of how Canada lynx broaden their diet when snowshoe hares crash, a key feature of the boreal predator-prey cycle. Although lynx are hare specialists, during the hare decline and low they i…

An overview of how the prey cats select shifts through the year with prey vulnerability, migration, birth pulses and weather. Many felids exploit seasonal ungulate calving and fawning peaks, when abun…

A survey of how the Canada lynx's large, well-furred feet give it an advantage hunting snowshoe hares in deep, soft snow, and how snow conditions structure its competition with other predators. The ly…

Holling's classic paper dissected predation into its component processes and introduced the functional response, the relationship between prey density and the number of prey killed per predator. He de…

Holling, C.S. · The Canadian Entomologist · 1959

A classic of population ecology, this paper assembled Hudson's Bay Company fur-return records spanning two centuries to document the now-iconic roughly ten-year oscillation in Canada lynx numbers. Elt…

Elton, C. & Nicholson, M. · Journal of Animal Ecology · 1942