Cyclic functional connectivity of Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) populations across North American boreal landscapes.

Connectivity is determined by the degree to which inhospitable habitat matrices are permeable to gene flow. Successful gene flow requires that dispersing individuals travel to new populations, survive there, and finally, reproduce. Consequently, examinations of connectivity must consider both the permeability of the landscape and individual survival patterns, as surviving individuals are the only ones that have the potential to reproduce.

Evidence for a survival-driven traveling wave in a keystone boreal predator population.

Cyclical population dynamics are a common phenomenon in populations worldwide, yet the spatial organization of these cycles remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the spatial form and timing of a population collapse from 2018 to 2022 in Canada lynx () across the northwest boreal forest. We analyzed survival, reproduction, and dispersal data from 143 individual global positioning system (GPS) collared lynx from populations across five study sites spanning interior Alaska to determine whether lynx displayed characteristics of a population wave following a concurrent wave in snowshoe hare () abundance.