Our four healthy captive hares have just recently finished the spring white to brown molt. We would like to share with you some of the pictures we’ve taken of them from January when they were still completely white to May. Continue reading
Now that the spring molt is wrapping up I wanted to give you guys an update on the part of the project that I am working on. One aspect of the project focuses on variables that might influence the rate of change of the molt. A paper by Scott, Marketa and colleagues that documented the molt was just published in PNAS. Continue reading
Measuring canopy closure
– read about James Goerz’ undergraduate Honors Research Project
My research is focused on snowshoe hare behavior in habitats with varying levels of predation risk. Specifically, I am interested in vegetation differences between survival and mortality micro-habitats as well as predator avoidance and foraging decisions made by hares in heterogeneous landscapes. Continue reading
- read about Brandon Davis’ undergraduate Honors Research Project
As snowfall is projected to decrease significantly over the next century, the number of days that hares will be mismatched to the environment will increase. Because hares molt to match the environment an increase in mismatched days will likely make them more vulnerable to predation. I will assess if hares realize when they are matched or mismatched to the environment by measuring their behavioral response Continue reading
Our research examining the effects of decreasing snowpack on snowshoe hares has been ongoing since summer 2009 and we are getting out our first results. We just published our first paper on this topic this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Hare crew made it back from Washington! We were in the beautiful yet rugged Cascade Mountains near Skykomish. That part of the country is home to unique snowshoe hare populations which have evolved different cryptic patterns to cope with variable winter conditions. Unlike hares in Montana, for example, some coat colors remain brown throughout the year while others change during fall and spring. Animals with these strategies are of increasing importance to biologists because of the changing climactic conditions. The search for these “polymorphic populations” is what prompted our road trip to the west coast. Continue reading
This unfortunate hare is strikingly mismatched with its habitat
When the hare crew asks for volunteers in the snowy season, you’d better be prepared for an entirely new experience – one that involves tight quarters, expansive panoramas, and single-digit temperatures. My own introduction to the crew and what they do was a fairly last-minute mashing together of information and packed essentials. The main recommendation from the crew leader was to bring “food and lots of winter clothes”. Nothing like jumping right in, eh? Continue reading
