Does coat colour influence survival? A test in a cyclic population of snowshoe hares

Snowshoe hares with whiter coats in autumn have higher winter survival rates, suggesting that coat color timing is crucial for their population dynamics. Researchers analyzed 43 years of field data (1977–2020) from Kluane, Yukon, using capture-mark-recapture models to test whether reduced snow cover—linked to climate change—disrupts camouflage and survival. While autumn coat whiteness correlated with better winter survival, spring coat color did not affect summer survival. These findings imply that mismatches between coat color and environmental conditions may exacerbate population declines in cyclic snowshoe hare populations as climate change progresses.

Oli, M. K., Kenney, A. J., Boonstra, R., Boutin, S., Murray, D. L., Peers, M. J. L., Gilbert, B. S., Jung, T. S., Chaudhary, V., Hines, J. E., & Krebs, C. J. (2023). Does coat colour influence survival? A test in a cyclic population of snowshoe hares. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 290(1996). https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.1421