The Lynx
Niche The Eurasian lynx is a large, predatory cat. Within its habitat it preys on a large variety of smaller mammals including rabbits, squirrels, and voles and will ocasionally prey on larger mammals like deer. The lynx's presence in the ecosystem helps to maintain a healthy population for the mammals and they prevent any one mammal from growing too numerous. Not only do lynx's maintain the mammal populations they share a parasitic relationship with both fleas and ticks that rely on the lynx for a food source. After the nuclear explosion at Chernobyl many of the lynx close to the explosion died immediatly while the remaining lynx's resources got contaminated by the radioisotopes that lingered in the air, soil, water sources, and vegitation. With the drop in the lynx population many of the mammals that had survived the intial explosion began to consume all of the producers in the area with no imediate predator to control them.
How has the population been affected? Shortly following the nuclear meltdown the death rate for the lynx population increased dramatically due to many suffering from acute radiation poisoning from either the blast itself or absorbing it from their environment. Also the birthrate dropped to all time lows from there being less mature and mating pairs available and the increasing number of miscarrages and kits born with birth defects from radiation exposure. Along with the increased death rate and decreased birth rate some of the lynx emigrated from the area to find new hunting grounds with more plentiful resources and imigration was basically nonexsitant after the explosion and for many years following the disaster.
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Geographic Range, Population Density, and Distribution Pattern As a species Lynx are very solitary animals and as a result have a very low population density. They also need to have a certain amount of space in order to have enough room to hunt effectivly, thus their distrabution pattern is very random. As a species the lynx often prefere to live in thick forests found in North America, Asia, and in Europe. In the country of Ukraine it is estimated that before the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown only eight hundred lynx were thought to exist within its borders. after the explosion it was estimated that only half of the population survived and many emigrated from the regions affected by the radiation.
Logistic Growth, Limiting Factors, and Carrying Capacity In the many years following the Chernobyl explosion the population of lynx in the area has slowly and progressively swelled but has not yet reached thier former population numbers. however many scientist initailly thought that Chernobyl wouldnt be habitable for animals for decades if not centuries. As far as logistic growth is concerned and witht the rate at which the lynx population is growing it is in the second phase of logistic growth where the population is still growing but not at a very high rate. Many scientists speculate that the enviroment will not be able to hold the numbers of lynx it once did with all the destruction the radiation caused thus lowering the carrying capacity. The enviroment wouldnt be able to hold the same number of lynx because of the residual effects of the radiation, a density independant limiting factor. Entire forests were wiped out and the water was contaminated all the way to the water table, it would take many centuries for the elivated levels of radiation to return to normal.
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