Does Prey Density Predict Characteristics of Primiparity in a Solitary and Specialized Predator, the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis)?

Age at primiparity is a flexible life history trait that purportedly responds to changing population dynamics and variable resource abundance. We examined placental scars in yearling Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis Kerr, 1792) from the island of Newfoundland and used pregnancy rates and litter sizes to indicate primiparity. We modelled these lynx productivity data with snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus Erxleben, 1777) population attributes using seven multiple a priori competing hypotheses. Hare abundance showed peak, decline and increase phases and densities based on capture-mark-recapture estimates ranged from 0.11 to 1.19 hares haThe accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author