Detecting Dynamics in Cricetulus Barabensis Populations

Past rodent population dynamics studies by some ecologists are often limited to the analysis and prediction about linear system. In the process of long-term population dynamics study of the dominant rodent species in North China Plain, we found the density change is very complicated and often influenced by a series of ecological factors both intrinsic and extrinsic. In many cases the population dynamics is nonlinear. Therefore, in this paper we attempt to analyze the Cricetulus Barabensis population of Wendeng City (37°12'N, 122°03'E) in North China Plain during 1982-2003 from two aspects (non-linearity and chaos). The computing methods include Hurst exponent and chaos verifying ways such as Lyapunov exponents. The results show that the dynamics of Cricetulus Barabensis population is nonperiodic, nonlinear, and chaotic.