Snowshoe hare population trends at mineral and non-mineral sites in the central Brooks Range, Alaska: Final report on the snowshoe hare ecology project, 1997–2023
DiFolco DL and Maier JA. 2024. Snowshoe hare population trends at mineral and non-mineral sites in the central Brooks Range, Alaska: Final report on the snowshoe hare ecology project, 1997–2023. Science Report. NPS/SR—2024/214. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado. https://doi.org/10.36967/2306544
This report presents data we have compiled while monitoring localized snowshoe hare populations in the central Brooks Range near Wiseman, Alaska, using track and pellet counts. In addition, we documented snowshoe hare geophagy—the practice of consuming soil—via trail cameras, thus confirming the use of mineral licks by snowshoe hares in this area. Evidence of geophagy by snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus) was observed during track count surveys in Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve west of Wiseman, Alaska, in 1997–2001 when the hare population reached an exceptionally high peak. Long-time residents claimed that hares with winter access to mineral licks reached higher densities than hares without year-round access to licks. In 2007 we initiated pellet plot counts to monitor hare populations in four areas where hares had year-round access to a mineral lick (“mineral” sites) and three areas where hares did not have minerals available year-round (“non-mineral” sites). Hare densities in non-mineral areas peaked around 2009, albeit moderately, 10 years after the extreme peak in 1997–2001 documented by the track count. By contrast, hares at mineral sites exhibited no apparent increase in population densities at this time. Local knowledge predicted that there would not be another large increase in hare densities in mineral areas until approximately 2018. Pellet count data later supported this prediction when, in 2019, peaks of hare populations at mineral sites surpassed those at non-mineral sites.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- DiFolco, Donna; Maier, Julie
- Date of Issue
- 2024-11
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- DOI
- 10.36967/2306544
- Units
- ARCN , GAAR , NRSS
- Keywords
- geophagy, mineral lick, pellet count, snowshoe hare, track count