Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times
The change of water phase around 0 °C has considerable impacts on wildlife ecology because liquid and solid water strongly differ in their insulating capability, mechanical resistance, and light reflectance. Freeze and melt events thus have strong ecological relevance, particularly in the Arctic whe...
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/as-2016-0023 2024-09-15T17:49:57+00:00 Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times Berteaux, Dominique Gauthier, Gilles Domine, Florent Ims, Rolf A. Lamoureux, Scott F. Lévesque, Esther Yoccoz, Nigel 2017 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2016-0023 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2016-0023 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2016-0023 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Arctic Science volume 3, issue 2, page 65-90 ISSN 2368-7460 2368-7460 journal-article 2017 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2016-0023 2024-08-22T04:08:45Z The change of water phase around 0 °C has considerable impacts on wildlife ecology because liquid and solid water strongly differ in their insulating capability, mechanical resistance, and light reflectance. Freeze and melt events thus have strong ecological relevance, particularly in the Arctic where snow and ice are omnipresent and their conditions are changing due to climate warming. We first review the mechanisms linking water phase transitions to wildlife ecology, with emphasis on seven key processes. These processes are illustrated with examples or detailed case studies, such as snowmelt and icing events affecting herbivore populations, thaw-induced collapse of structures used by wildlife for reproduction, and thermal erosion of ice wedges reducing waterfowl habitat. We infer that water phase transitions generate some critical places and critical times that play a disproportionate role in the ecology of tundra wildlife. We map these critical places and times to help structure future research on the effects of climate change on tundra wildlife in a context where changing permafrost and snow conditions might trigger abrupt ecological responses in the Arctic tundra. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Climate change Ice permafrost Tundra wedge* Canadian Science Publishing Arctic Science 3 2 65 90 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
description |
The change of water phase around 0 °C has considerable impacts on wildlife ecology because liquid and solid water strongly differ in their insulating capability, mechanical resistance, and light reflectance. Freeze and melt events thus have strong ecological relevance, particularly in the Arctic where snow and ice are omnipresent and their conditions are changing due to climate warming. We first review the mechanisms linking water phase transitions to wildlife ecology, with emphasis on seven key processes. These processes are illustrated with examples or detailed case studies, such as snowmelt and icing events affecting herbivore populations, thaw-induced collapse of structures used by wildlife for reproduction, and thermal erosion of ice wedges reducing waterfowl habitat. We infer that water phase transitions generate some critical places and critical times that play a disproportionate role in the ecology of tundra wildlife. We map these critical places and times to help structure future research on the effects of climate change on tundra wildlife in a context where changing permafrost and snow conditions might trigger abrupt ecological responses in the Arctic tundra. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Berteaux, Dominique Gauthier, Gilles Domine, Florent Ims, Rolf A. Lamoureux, Scott F. Lévesque, Esther Yoccoz, Nigel |
spellingShingle |
Berteaux, Dominique Gauthier, Gilles Domine, Florent Ims, Rolf A. Lamoureux, Scott F. Lévesque, Esther Yoccoz, Nigel Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
author_facet |
Berteaux, Dominique Gauthier, Gilles Domine, Florent Ims, Rolf A. Lamoureux, Scott F. Lévesque, Esther Yoccoz, Nigel |
author_sort |
Berteaux, Dominique |
title |
Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
title_short |
Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
title_full |
Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
title_fullStr |
Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
title_full_unstemmed |
Effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
title_sort |
effects of changing permafrost and snow conditions on tundra wildlife: critical places and times |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2016-0023 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2016-0023 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2016-0023 |
genre |
Arctic Climate change Ice permafrost Tundra wedge* |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change Ice permafrost Tundra wedge* |
op_source |
Arctic Science volume 3, issue 2, page 65-90 ISSN 2368-7460 2368-7460 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2016-0023 |
container_title |
Arctic Science |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
65 |
op_container_end_page |
90 |
_version_ |
1810291792666427392 |