![]() Similar, but more recent regime shifts have been observed in Arctic ecosystems and attributed to anthropogenic climate change. ![]() Destabilization of the autumn North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) led to the collapse of similar cycles in the hare population, coincident with the onset of agricultural intensification (a shift from small-to-large farms) in the first half of the 20th century. ![]() This regime was replaced by dynamics more typical of southern latitude hare populations from 1909 to 1970, in which cycles were lost and numbers declined dramatically. Contrary to expectations, there was a dynamical structure typical of northern latitude hare populations from 1853 to 1908, during which numbers were stable but cyclic with a periodicity of 8 years. Using game bag records from multiple sites throughout Ireland, the hare population index exhibited a distinct regime shift. We focus on the impact of historical climatic and agricultural change on a mid-latitude population of mountain hares, Lepus timidus hibernicus. Hare populations at more southerly latitudes are characterized by dramatic declines in abundance associated with agricultural intensification. Animal populations at northern latitudes may have cyclical dynamics that are degraded by climate change leading to trophic cascade.
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