Researchers from the University of Alaska Fairbanks have uncovered compelling evidence of a traveling population wave affecting the reproduction, movement, and survival of Canada lynx in Interior Alaska. This discovery, published in the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, could help wildlife managers make more informed decisions about managing this keystone predator of the boreal forest. The study reveals how lynx populations rise and fall in sync with the 10- to 12-year boom-and-bust cycle of their primary prey, the snowshoe hare, and how this cycle sweeps across the landscape like a ripple, originating in the east and moving westward.
Lynx-Hare Cycle Unraveled
The research carried out between 2018 and 2022 began with the lynx-hare cycle at its peak. Throughout the study, researchers monitored the reproduction, movement, and survival of 143 lynx in the five national wildlife refuges and Gates of the Arctic National Park in Interior Alaska.
Data from the GPS-collared lynx provided a detailed view of how, in a three-step cascade that spread from east to west, this population responded to the collapse of the snowshoe hare population. The clear signal of a traveling population wave helps researchers “think about this 10- to 12-year period… happening over space and time rather than just being synchronized across the state,” Sanders said.
Anticipating which way lynx populations will go
The results of the study confirm what trappers and naturalists have remarked upon for years. Trappers have known this for a long, long time,” said Derek Arnold, the lead investigator. The data merely supports it and helps us understand the big picture.
This new understanding will assist wildlife managers in making more informed decisions about how to manage lynx. ‘Given that we know the usual direction of the wave — from East to West — this makes population trends in lynx somewhat easier to predict,’ Arnold said. “Wildlife managers can now make an educated guess at how a population will respond to various management strategies on a finer scale rather than just using the whole state as a model,” he explained.
Help for Wild Populations
The researchers note the value of preserving resident populations for Canada lynx as well. Lynx that disperse during population declines typically do not live to tell the tale, Arnold said. “Most of them, they just have this desire to leave their hometowns and most of the time, it’s just not happening.”
Our study highlights a lack of protected areas within the species’ extents and reinforces the importance of preserving populations in strongholds that are critical to maintaining core connectivity linkages (e.g., lynx-dispersal distances) between suitable habitats. This act of preserving the refuge populations ensures that wildlife managers have a stand-alone, healthy population in place to support the long-term survival of this iconic boreal forest predator, despite the rolling wave of traveling populations across the landscape.
