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Population biology

The voles of Hokkaido

Nature volume 396, pages 409–410 (1998)Cite this article

Lemmings do not jump off cliffs into the sea in episodes of cult-like mass suicide, unless herded to do so by Walt Disney's cameramen (as allegedly happened in one of his early natural history films). In some places, however, their abundance does exhibit roughly 4-year cycles, with peak years seeing as much as thousandfold increases over low years; in other places, the population fluctuations are simply seasonal.

As one contributor (C. J. Krebs) points out, there are three reasons why such rodents are ideal subjects for studying population dynamics. First, they are found virtually everywhere, and are often pests in forest plantations. Second, their short lives mean significant work can be done on the 3-4-year timescale of the PhD. Third, as Elton emphasized, they do interesting things, like cycling.

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  1. the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS, UK

    Robert M. May

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  1. Robert M. May
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May, R. The voles of Hokkaido. Nature 396, 409–410 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/24720

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