The brown lemming goes through cycles that cause its numbers to fluctuate by a factor of 100.
The brown lemming goes through cycles that cause its numbers to fluctuate by a factor of 100. Differential mortality of females would cause them to be three times less numerous than males when the population reaches a low point The intriguing cyclical variations of lemmings continue to surprise. The few answers that shed some light on this elusive phenomenon raise new questions that further thicken the mystery. This is the case of a study just published in the journal Ecology and Evolution by Dominique Fauteux, from the Canadian Museum of Nature, and Gilles Gauthier, from the Department of Biology at Laval University, both attached to the Centre for Northern Studies. The two researchers used a database of lemming populations on Bylot Island, Nunavut, collected between 2004 and 2019 to try to better understand the causes of this population roller coaster, which causes lemming numbers to rise and fall in three- to five-year cycles. Lemmings are central to the terrestrial food chain in the Arctic. They are one of the main prey of arctic foxes, ermines, snowy owls and other birds of prey living at these latitudes.
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