1. Influence of canopy cover on behavioral traits of snowshoe hare
Breanna Avery
Winter Ecology/ Spring 2018
Mountain Research Station, University of Colorado, Boulder
Professor Tim Kittel
Key Words: snowshoe hare, canopy cover, behavior, tracks
Citation: Avery, B. Influence on Canopy Cover on Behavioral Traits of Snowshoe Hare. Winter ecology. University of Colorado at Boulder, 2018

2. Introduction The snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus)
Mostly found in coniferous and boreal forests of the rocky mountains
Nocturnal animals that are active at dawn and dusk and spend the daylight hours grooming, napping, or avoiding predators.
Hind feet act as snowshoes to help float atop of snow
Picture credit: Tom Brakefield

3. background
Previous Projects: “Snowshoe behavior in different environments”
(Paliwoda, 2016)
Literature Suggests:
Prefer dense understory in order to provide thermal and hiding cover.
Eat aspen trees and willow trees
Tend to be found where there is deep snow depth
(Ellsworth, 2006)
Research Question: Why do snowshoe hares behave particular ways based on the environment in which they are in?
Previous Project Results:
Megan described that it is evident that snowshoe hares prefer to be in closed canopy cover. I am expanding on this idea by determining why snowshoe hares prefer closed canopy cover and a dense understory.

4. behaviors
When looking at tracks, in order to address why a snowshoe hare might act a particular way we might ask:
Are they more predated in a particular area?
Do they have a habitat that they feel most comfortable in?
Is there a type of tree they prefer to eat more during the winter months?
These are the questions I asked myself when looking at the tracks
Picture Citations:

5. Different levels of canopy cover: Willow Aspen Willow & Aspen

6. Hypothesis Null Hypothesis:
There will be no difference in snowshoe hare behaviors due to a given environment.
Alternative Hypothesis:
There will be a difference in behaviors due to a given environment.
Predictions:
Snowshoe hares will move quicker in more open areas and will move more leisurely in areas where there is a dense understory cover.

7. Methods
In each environment determined percentage of canopy cover in each particular area.
Laid out 20 meter transect tape.
Every 2 meters on the transect tape determined whether mammal was running, walking, or standing in place/eating.
At every 2 meters also analyzed surrounding trees for signs of foraging or tracks of predators.
Compared the different behaviors in all three of the locations
Discussion of Limitations: freshly fallen snow is harder to determine exact foot placement of tracks
Nearby eaten trees are hard to tell whether it was the snowshoe hare eating or another animal eating
Would need more data and would have to lay out more transect tapes
Bohman’s trail

8. Methods In order to determine snowshoe hare behavior Walking Running
Less than 60cm apart from each footprint
If front feet were in front
Running
Greater than 60 cm distance apart
Back feet were in front of back feet
Standing in place
noticeable foraging from surround trees, scat, or left over food by tracks

9. statistics One- way ANOVA to analyze the data
P-Value= 0.03 which shows there is statistical significance in snowshoe hare behavior and the amount of canopy cover.
Reject Null hypothesis
Did a one way ANOVA to see the average speeds in different environments
X axis is the type of canopy cover
Y axis is the distance traveled per cm
Willow and Aspen were very similar but Willow/Aspen environments has the lowest average speed of the snowshoe hare

10. Results
In areas with both aspen and willow trees, there was the lowest average distance that the snowshoe hare traveled and noticeable bark eaten from a nearby Aspen tree.
This makes sense due to more understory (more than 30 percent cover), dense canopy cover, and more protection from predation.
The snowshoe hare traveled the quickest in areas with just one type of tree, Willow trees being the fastest and aspen forests being a close second.
In aspen forests especially, there is very minimal understory to provide protection (less than 30 percent cover).
Snowshoe hares are more often predated in areas where they are easy to get and where they are unable to hide in the understory of the trees.
Snowshoe hares act more comfortable in areas with dense canopy cover because of the reduced risk of predators getting to them.
Snowshoe hares are well adapted to dense canopy cover due to their hind feet not only acting as snowshoes to allow for floatation along deep snow but also give them the agility to run in a zig-zag pattern to escape their predators.
This allows the snowshoe hare to swiftly turn in areas with a lot of low branches, making it hard for the predators to get to them.
Dense canopy cover is where they are more likely to find shelter, warmth, and woody vegetation to eat.

11. Discussion Questions? Further research:
Finding predator tracks such as coyotes or bobcat and determine if they more often predate on snowshoe hares in open areas or closed.
Picture Citation: Joseph M. Mahaffy
Why wouldn’t the willow trees have a slower average than the aspen trees if willows generally provide more canopy cover than aspens?

12. References
Boonstra, R., Hik, D., Singleton, G. R. and Tinnikov, A. (1998), THE IMPACT OF PREDATOR-INDUCED STRESS ON THE SNOWSHOE HARE CYCLE. Ecological Monographs, 68: 371–394. doi: / (1998)068[0371:TIOPIS]2.0.CO;2
Ellsworth, E. and T.D. Reynolds. (2006, July 19). Snowshoe Hare (Lepus americanus): a technical conservation assessment. [Online]. USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region. Available: [February 19, 2018].