An allometric approach to population cycles of mammals

Abstract The periodic cycles in populations of microtine rodents (3–4 years) and hares (8–10 years) have been treated separately in the past. Attempts to explain them have centered on exogenous factors. Considered together, they provide the suggestion that the natural period is endogenous and size-dependent, and may be a consequence of the physiological and reproductive pace of the life cycle that scales as the fourth root of body mass.