Small Mammals Cycles in Northern Europe: Patterns and Evidence for a Maternal Effect Hypothesis

1. Voles undergo pronounced oscillations over periods of 3-5 years in northern Europe. A latitudinal gradient of cycle periods and amplitudes has been reported for Fennoscandia, with periods and amplitudes increasing towards northern latitudes. 2. This study formulates a discrete time model based on...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of animal ecology 1998-03, Vol.67 (2), p.180-194
Main Authors: Inchausti, Pablo, Ginzburg, Lev R.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Breeding
Demecology
Ecological modeling
Ecological processes
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human ecology
individual quality
Maternal effect
microtines
oscillations
Population density
Population dynamics
Population ecology
Population growth rate
Protozoa. Invertebrata
rodents
Voles
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Summary:1. Voles undergo pronounced oscillations over periods of 3-5 years in northern Europe. A latitudinal gradient of cycle periods and amplitudes has been reported for Fennoscandia, with periods and amplitudes increasing towards northern latitudes. 2. This study formulates a discrete time model based on maternal effects to explain the density fluctuation patterns of microtine rodents. The phenotypic transmission of quality from mothers to offspring generates delayed density dependence, which produces cyclic behaviour in the model. 3. The dynamic patterns predicted by the maternal effect model agree with data. We conclude that the maternal effect hypothesis is a plausible, parsimonious explanation for vole-density cycles in northern Europe.
ISSN:0021-8790
1365-2656
DOI:10.1046/j.1365-2656.1998.00189.x