Polar research | |
Kelp and seaweed feeding by High-Arctic wild reindeer under extreme winter conditions | |
BrageBremsetHansen2  Ronny Aanes3  | |
[1] Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management, Tungasletta 2NO-7485 Trondheim, Norway Correspondence;Centre for Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Høgskoleringen 5NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway;Norwegian Polar Institute, Polar Environmental CentreNO-9296 Tromsø, Norway | |
关键词: Climate change; ground-ice; High Arctic; marine algae; Rangifer tarandus; terrestrial herbivore.; | |
DOI : 10.3402/polar.v31i0.17258 | |
学科分类:自然科学(综合) | |
来源: Co-Action Publishing | |
【 摘 要 】
One challenge in current Arctic ecological research is to understand and predict how wildlife may respond to increased frequencies of “extreme” weather events. Heavy rain-on-snow (ROS) is one such extreme phenomenon associated with winter warming that is not well studied but has potentially profound ecosystem effects through changes in snow-pack properties and ice formation. Here, we document how ice-locked pastures following substantial amounts of ROS forced coastal Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) to use marine habitat in late winter 2010. A thick coat of ground ice covered 98% of the lowland ranges, almost completely blocking access to terrestrial forage. Accordingly, a population census revealed that 13% of the total population (n=26 of 206 individuals) and 21% of one sub-population were feeding on washed-up kelp and seaweed on the sea-ice foot. Calves were overrepresented among the individuals that applied this foraging strategy, which probably represents a last attempt to avoid st...
【 授权许可】
CC BY-NC
【 预 览 】
Files | Size | Format | View |
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RO201902018214945ZK.pdf | 2023KB | download |