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Factors affecting hare-lynx dynamics in the classic time series of the Hudson Bay Company, Canada
The hare–lynx cycle has been regarded as a classic example of a predator–prey oscillation. Zhang and co-workers re-analyzed the Hudson Bay Company's hare-lynx time series for 1847 to 1903, using partial cross correlation and stepwise multiple regression modeling with a delayed density-dependence effect, to evaluate the effects of intrinsic self-regulation, prey-predator interactions and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO). There was no significant predation effect for both hare and lynx populations; the increase rate of hare and lynx populations is basically self-regulated or density-dependent, and ENSO may play an important role in hare-lynx dynamics. Therefore, the Hudson Bay Company's hare-lynx time series is not a classic example of a predator–prey oscillation.
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