The species is coping with Arctic warming much better than expected
The North Pole is no longer what it used to be. The climate change is to blame The Arctic is the area of the world where temperatures are rising the fastest.. This circumstance is causing the ground to be covered during part of the year with ice and not with snow, which is affecting local wildlife. But there is hope. At least for the reindeer: a scientific study shows that they are dealing with global warming much better than feared. Reindeer can be considered a “climate winner”the researchers conclude
Climate change is causing prolonged periods of mild weather in the Arctic. The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has carried out research in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to see how reindeer are adapting to these new circumstances.
In that arctic zone, precipitation occurs more and more in the form of rain. High temperatures melt snow, and water freezes again in colder periods.
Are alternating between hot and cold result in the ground being covered in ice, which is a problem for reindeer in Svalbard, because when ice covers the ground, food is not available.
Until a few years ago, the ground was often covered in snow, allowing animals to dig for food. Snow is fluffy and easy to traverse while hard ice is much more difficult, sometimes impossible.
NMBU researchers have studied reindeer for the past 25 years. They tracked population numbers and captured and weighed about 1,000 females. The results have just been published in the journal ‘Global Change Biology’.
population on the rise
Icy winters until recently dictated the size of animal populations: their numbers increased for a few years, but then plummeted when the ground became covered with ice and many had to compete for the few plants that could be found. But in the last ten years everything has changed, something new has happened.
because surprisingly the reindeer population has grown steadily over the past decade, despite the fact that there have been icy winters. And in spring they weigh more than usual. This indicates, according to the researchers, that theThe animals are coping well with the current new, milder winters.
“In years and areas where snow came late, animals weighed an average of 5 kilograms and 10% more at the end of winter,” says Leif Egil Loe, Professor of Wildlife Biology at NMBU. The reason for increased fat layer of reindeer are changes in the availability of food.
The plant growing season usually lasts in Svalbard from early June to mid-August, but there are big differences between years.
With warmer weather, plants start growing earlier in the spring and live longer until fall. A hot summer produces twice as much food for reindeer as a cold summer. in Svalbard, and this food is available for most of the year.
Therefore, warmer autumns with later snowfall have more than offset the fact that the ground is icier in winter. “This is probably the main explanation for why the population size in our study area has almost tripled in the last three decades,” Loe says.
A changing ecosystem
The fact that the ecosystem is changing due to climate change suggests that Svalbard, and by extension the entire Arctic will look “quite different in the future”says Kari Klanderud, NMBU professor of plant ecology.
This scientist has investigated how climate change will affect Scandinavian plant communities. “Warmer weather favors grass and flowering plants at the expense of the mosses that currently dominate,” he explains.
“Changes in plant communities will probably also reinforce themselves because the plants will change the soil. Therefore, the reindeer food supply will most likely continue to increase“, say the researchers.
In addition to changes in the local flora, it is also possible that there will be more winter grazing for the animals in the future. High winter temperatures will generate more pastures in winterinstead of covering them with ice.
“If these tendencies take hold, andhe future for reindeer in Svalbard could be brighter than we have feared so farLoe admits.
But not everything is optimism: “Animal activity levels also drop sharply when temperatures exceed 12 degrees Celsius.“. And that happens more and more frequently.
“Although the reindeer can be considered a ‘climate winner’ over the last 28 years, and the food supply will continue to increase, the physiological challenges for this Ice Age animal will likely be felt in the near future,” Loe concludes.
Reference report: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.15458
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