Relating the 4-year lemming (Lemmus spp. and Dicrostonyx spp.) population cycle to a 3.8-year lunar cycle and ENSO

Reported peak years of lemming (Lemmus spp. and Dicrostonyx spp.) and Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)) abundance were compiled from the literature for 12 locations spanning 127 years. The mean period of the 34 reported lemming and Arctic fox cycles from 1868 to 1994 was 3.8 years, suggesting that the period of the 4-year cycle is actually 3.8 years. Peak population years were predicted using a simple model based on a 3.8-year lunar cycle. For nearly 130 years, reported years of peak abundance of lemmings and Arctic foxes were significantly correlated with and have persistently stayed in phase with predicted peak years of abundance. Over the same period, predicted peak years of lemming abundance have been closely aligned with peak (i.e., La Niña) years of the January–March Southern Oscillation Index (SOI). From 1952 to 1995, peak flowering in Norway tended to occur close to trough June–August SOI (El Niño) years. The hypothesis proposed is that the 3.8-year lunar cycle governs the timing of the lemming cycle, but it does not cause the population cycling itself. If this hypothesis is true, then the heretofore unexplained source of the persistent periodicity and quasi-metronomic regularity of the lemming cycle is identified.The 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