Community Ecology

AP Biology· difficulty 4/5

Hudson's Bay Company pelt records show ~10-year cycles of snowshoe hare and lynx.

Modern data suggest these cycles are best explained by:

A
$Pure 10-year sunspot cycles$
B
$Single-factor predation by lynx alone$
C
$Combined effects of predator-prey dynamics and food limitation on hares$
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D
$Random fluctuations only$

Explanation

Experiments show that lynx predation and hare food shortage interact: predator-prey alone is insufficient; bottom-up plant limitation amplifies the cycle.

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