Small rodent population cycles characterize northern ecosystems, and the cause of these cycles has been a long-lasting central topic in ecology. While some researchers have rejected plant–herbivore interactions as a cause of rodent cycles, others have continued to research their potential roles.
In their recent article in Biological Reviews, Eeva Soininen and Mage Neby outlined four different pathways on how plants could create population cycles in rodents. They reviewed the existing scientific literature, assessing the support to these pathways.
They found studies from the temperate biome to the tundra, but studies were scattered across different plant-rodent combinations, and only a few specific topics were studied repeatedly. They concluded that the literature is currently insufficient to discard with confidence any of the four potential hypotheses for plant-rodent cycles.
Reference: Soininen, E.M. and Neby, M., 2023. Small rodent population cycles and plants–after 70 years, where do we go?. Biological Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13021
Photo: L. Johnson