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Gauthier G, Ehrich D, Belke-Brea M, Domine F, Alisauskas R, Clark K, Ecke F, Eide NE, Framstad E, Frandsen J, Gilg O, Henttonen H, Hörnfeldt B, Kataev GD, Menyushina IE, Oksanen L, Oksanen T, Olofsson J, Samelius G, Sittler B, Smith PA, Sokolov AA, Sokolova NA, Schmidt NM. Taking the beat of the Arctic: are lemming population cycles changing due to winter climate? Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20232361. [PMID: 38351802 PMCID: PMC10865006 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2361] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Reports of fading vole and lemming population cycles and persisting low populations in some parts of the Arctic have raised concerns about the spread of these fundamental changes to tundra food web dynamics. By compiling 24 unique time series of lemming population fluctuations across the circumpolar region, we show that virtually all populations displayed alternating periods of cyclic/non-cyclic fluctuations over the past four decades. Cyclic patterns were detected 55% of the time (n = 649 years pooled across sites) with a median periodicity of 3.7 years, and non-cyclic periods were not more frequent in recent years. Overall, there was an indication for a negative effect of warm spells occurring during the snow onset period of the preceding year on lemming abundance. However, winter duration or early winter climatic conditions did not differ on average between cyclic and non-cyclic periods. Analysis of the time series shows that there is presently no Arctic-wide collapse of lemming cycles, even though cycles have been sporadic at most sites during the last decades. Although non-stationary dynamics appears a common feature of lemming populations also in the past, continued warming in early winter may decrease the frequency of periodic irruptions with negative consequences for tundra ecosystems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gilles Gauthier
- Department of Biology and Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec city, Québec, Canada
| | - Dorothée Ehrich
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT-The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Maria Belke-Brea
- Department of Geography, Takuvik Joint International Laboratory and Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec city, Québec, Canada
| | - Florent Domine
- Department of Chemistry, Takuvik Joint International Laboratory and Centre d’études nordiques, Université Laval, Québec city, Québec, Canada
- CNRS-INSU, Paris, France
| | - Ray Alisauskas
- Wildlife Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
| | - Karin Clark
- Environment and Natural Resources, Government of Northwest Territories, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada
| | - Frauke Ecke
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Nina E. Eide
- Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim/Oslo, Norway
| | - Erik Framstad
- Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Trondheim/Oslo, Norway
| | - Jay Frandsen
- Western Arctic Field Unit, Parks Canada, Kingmingya, Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada
| | - Olivier Gilg
- UMR 6249 Chrono-Environnement, CNRS, Université de Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Francheville, France
- Groupe de recherche en Écologie Arctique, Francheville, France
| | - Heikki Henttonen
- Terrestrial Population Dynamics, Natural Resources Institute Finland, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Birger Hörnfeldt
- Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umeå, Sweden
| | | | | | - Lauri Oksanen
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Alta, Norway
- Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Tarja Oksanen
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Alta, Norway
- Department of Biology, Section of Ecology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Johan Olofsson
- Department of Ecology and Environmental Science, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
| | | | - Benoit Sittler
- Groupe de recherche en Écologie Arctique, Francheville, France
- Chair for Nature Conservation and Landscape Ecology, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Paul A. Smith
- Wildlife Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Aleksandr A. Sokolov
- Arctic Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Labytnangi, Russia
| | - Natalia A. Sokolova
- Arctic Research Station of Institute of Plant and Animal Ecology, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Labytnangi, Russia
| | - Niels M. Schmidt
- Department of Ecoscience and Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark
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Poirier M, Gauthier G, Domine F, Fauteux D. Lemming winter habitat: the quest for warm and soft snow. Oecologia 2023:10.1007/s00442-023-05385-y. [PMID: 37351629 DOI: 10.1007/s00442-023-05385-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/11/2022] [Accepted: 05/08/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
During the cold arctic winter, small mammals like lemmings seek refuge inside the snowpack to keep warm and they dig tunnels in the basal snow layer, usually formed of a soft depth hoar, to find vegetation on which they feed. The snowpack, however, is a heterogenous medium and lemmings should use habitats where snow properties favor their survival and winter reproduction. We determined the impact of snow physical properties on lemming habitat use and reproduction in winter by sampling their winter nests for 13 years and snow properties for 6 years across 4 different habitats (mesic, riparian, shrubland, and wetland) on Bylot Island in the Canadian High Arctic. We found that lemmings use riparian habitat most intensively because snow accumulates more rapidly, the snowpack is the deepest and temperature of the basal snow layer is the highest in this habitat. However, in the deepest snowpacks, the basal depth hoar layer was denser and less developed than in habitats with shallower snowpacks, and those conditions were negatively related to lemming reproduction in winter. Shrubland appeared a habitat of moderate quality for lemmings as it favored a soft basal snow layer and a deep snowpack compared with mesic and wetland, but snow conditions in this habitat critically depend on weather conditions at the beginning of the winter. With climate change, a hardening of the basal layer of the snowpack and a delay in snow accumulation are expected, which could negatively affect the winter habitat of lemmings and be detrimental to their populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathilde Poirier
- Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, 2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC, Canada.
- Department of Biology, Université Laval, 1045 av. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada.
- Takuvik Joint International Laboratory, Université Laval (Canada) and CNRS-INSU (France), 1045 av. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada.
| | - Gilles Gauthier
- Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, 2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC, Canada
- Department of Biology, Université Laval, 1045 av. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Florent Domine
- Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, 2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC, Canada
- Takuvik Joint International Laboratory, Université Laval (Canada) and CNRS-INSU (France), 1045 av. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada
- Department of Chemistry, Université Laval, 1045 av. de la Médecine, Québec, QC, Canada
| | - Dominique Fauteux
- Centre d'Études Nordiques, Université Laval, Pavillon Abitibi-Price, 2405, rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC, Canada
- Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, Canadian Museum of Nature, Station D, P.O. Box 3443, Ottawa, ON, Canada
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Bolduc D, Fauteux D, Bharucha É, Trudeau JM, Legagneux P. Ultra-light photosensor collars to monitor Arctic lemming activity. ANIMAL BIOTELEMETRY 2022; 10:31. [PMID: 37521809 PMCID: PMC9552731 DOI: 10.1186/s40317-022-00302-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 09/27/2022] [Indexed: 08/01/2023]
Abstract
Background Studying the anti-predatory behavior of mammals represents an important challenge, especially for fossorial small mammals that hide in burrows. In the Arctic, such behaviors are critical to the survival of lemmings considering that predation risks are high every summer. Because detailed information about how lemmings use burrows as hideouts is still lacking, we developed a 1.59 g photosensitive collar to record any event of a small mammal moving between a dark area (e.g., burrow) and a bright area (e.g., outside the burrow). Tests of how collars affected lemming behavior were conducted in captivity in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada, in November 2019 and field tests were conducted on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada, in August 2021. Results The device was made of two chemical batteries and a printed circuit board (PCB) equipped with a photosensor and a real-time clock that recorded amplitude transient thresholds of light (lux) continuously. In accordance with ethical use of such devices, we verified that no abnormal loss of body mass was observed in captive or free-ranging lemmings, and no difference in recapture rates were observed between those with and without a collar, though we could not test this for periods longer than 108 h. Measurements of light intensities revealed consistent patterns with high lux levels at mid-day and lowest during the night. Lemmings showed clearly defined behavioral patterns alternating between periods outside and inside burrows. Despite 24-h daylight in the middle of the summer, August nighttime (i.e., 11 PM to 4 AM) lux levels were insufficient for amplitude transient thresholds to be reached. Conclusion By taking advantage of the long periods of daylight in the Arctic, such technology is very promising as it sets new bases for passive recording of behavioral parameters and builds on the prospect of further miniaturization of batteries and PCBs.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Bolduc
- Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, 1045, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
| | - Dominique Fauteux
- Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, 1045, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Centre for Arctic Knowledge and Exploration, Canadian Museum of Nature, P.O. Box 3443 station D, Ottawa, ON K1P 6P4 Canada
| | - Éric Bharucha
- Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, 1045, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Sentinel North Technological Instrument Development Platform, Université Laval, 2375 rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
| | - Jean-Marie Trudeau
- Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, 1045, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
- Sentinel North Technological Instrument Development Platform, Université Laval, 2375 rue de la Terrasse, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
| | - Pierre Legagneux
- Centre d’Études Nordiques, Université Laval, 1045, avenue de la Médecine, Québec, QC G1V 0A6 Canada
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