GRE阅读高频机经原文：Snowshoeharepopulation.docxVIP

GRE阅读高频机经原文：Snowshoeharepopulation gre的机经对我们的备考有很强的参考价值，为了方便大家，下面小编给大家带来GRE阅读高频机经原文：Snowshoe hare population，来看看吧！ GRE阅读高频机经原文：Snowshoe hare population　 Snowshoe hare population The snowshoe hare is one of the northern mammals that go through periodic cycles of changes in their populations. Over a period of years, their population will increase in numbers and then suddenly crash to very low numbers, only to rise again. Snowshoe hare tend to cycle about once every ten years. The snowshoe hare cycle is one of the best known and fur trappers and traders working in northern Canada first described it. In 1865, traders with the Hudsons Bay Company were flooded by hare pelts brought in by trappers. But, by 1870, only a few hare pelts trickled in. This pattern of high and low abundance of hare pelts repeated itself over and over, roughly every ten years. Snowshoe hares are a dominant herbivore in northern forest ecosystems. In Alaska and western Canada, their populations cycle over 8 to 11 years. The difference in densities and abundance during the cycle are extreme. Densities as high as 4,000 hares per square kilometer (or 10,000 hares per square mile) have been estimated at the peak (or high point) of the cycle. These populations can crash to densities of less than one hare per square kilometer (or 2.6 hares per square mile) within a period of one year. The populations slowly increase to peak densities over the next 6 to 13 years. The densities during peak years, however, are not always the same. Just what is it that drives the snowshoe hare cycle? This question has puzzled people living in northern areas and scientists for many years. On a broad scale, it may be the 22- year sunspot cycle and its effects on boreal forest weather patterns or forest fires. On a smaller scale, the cycles may be affected by over browsing the food supply, predators, shock disease due to stress, parasites, or a combination of these. The primary theory pertaining to the sno