Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Perhaps the most celebrated predator-prey interaction involves the Canada lynx and its primary prey, the snowshoe hare. Across the boreal forest, lynx and hare populations undergo dramatic 9-11 year fluctuations that are driven by their intricate predator-prey relationship, and these fluctuations reverberate through the boreal forest ecosystem to profoundly affect the dynamics of a variety of species. However, due to the cryptic habits of lynx and hares there remains a number of uncertainties associated with their predator-prey interaction, and how these translate to ecosystem-level changes in the boreal forest. The requested infrastructure (satellite radio-transmitters, accelerometers, audio recorders) will be used by the Kluane Lynx-Hare Team (KLHT; D. Murray, TrentU; S. Boutin, UAlberta; M. Humphries, McGillU) to decipher complex interactions between lynx and their environment at Kluane Lake, Yukon. State-of-the-art satellite transmitters will be programmed for high-intensity collection of fine-scale movements, and deployed on lynx in the field; accelerometers will be attached to these devices to provide precise measurement of lynx behavior, including feeding and hunting; miniaturized audio recorders will be deployed to reveal patterns of prey selection and hunting success. Collectively, these devices will help track lynx intensively and document killing events to assess how the predation rate on hares is shaped by: i) hare abundance; ii) agonistic interactions between lynx; iii) relative availability of alternate prey (i.e., red squirrel); and iv) foraging behaviour of individual lynx. Second, this equipment will serve to elucidate whether lynx movements and hunting success reflect either of two prevailing models of foraging theory (i.e., patch choice vs. prey choice). Third, because instrumented lynx will overlap spatially with hares currently wearing similar devices, the equipment will provide unprecedented insight into how predators and prey interact spatially, and whether prey: i) are killed disproportionately in certain habitat types (e.g., low structural cover); and ii) avoid predators in regions of high overlap. Fourth, the hare population is expected to crash in the next year and lynx body condition will deteriorate correspondingly. Accordingly, our instruments will allow us to recapture individual lynx with a high efficiency so we can track changes in physiology, body condition, and epigenetics through this extreme natural stressor, and relate observed changes to data collected from the requested instruments. Collectively, this infrastructure will expand our longstanding lynx research by applying state-of-the-art technologies toward solving major questions regarding lynx ecology and conservation, and more generally, predator-prey population dynamics in the boreal forest. The research also will contribute to knowledge gaps about an iconic mammal species that has an important economic value through fur trapping.