🐇❄️ The Hare–Lynx Cycle (3 Phases)

👉 What’s happening: hares are few in number, so life is easy.

Food: Plenty of good, nutritious food.
Reproduction (fecundity): Females breed young (1 yr old) + can have 16–18 offspring per summer.
Predators: Not many lynx/foxes/owls around. Predators hunt other prey instead.
Result: Hares increase quickly — the population shoots upward.

👉 What’s happening: hares are now everywhere — but that causes problems.

Food supply: Still abundant at first, so population skyrockets in just ~3 years.
Density effects: As density grows, food runs out, quality declines, and stress increases.
- Reproduction drops.
- Death rates rise.
Predators: Lots of hares = buffet for lynx. Lynx numbers rise, but with a 1–2 year lag (they only breed in spring, so they can’t instantly increase).
Result: Hare population reaches maximum → but is now unstable. Lynx population is building behind them.

👉 What’s happening: hares hit their limits, predators peak right after.

Food: High-quality food is gone; hares must eat poor food → weak survival + reproduction.
Predation: Many lynx now; also owls, hawks, foxes eating both adults and babies.
Hares: Population collapses — huge mortality.
Lynx: Initially do fine (lots to eat) but then starve as hares vanish. Disease + low reproduction also hit lynx. Their numbers crash after the hares.
Environment: With hares gone, vegetation recovers. This sets the stage for hares to bounce back → and the cycle starts over.

🔄 Quick Recap Flow

Increase → Low hare density = lots of food, low predation → population grows fast.
Peak → Hares very abundant → food shortage + stress + predators rising → population becomes unstable.
Decline → Food gone + predators high → hares crash → lynx crash later → plants recover → repeat.

👉 Big picture: The lag is crucial. Hares peak first, lynx peak 1–2 years later, both crash, then the whole system resets.