Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada
Climate change increases the risk of severe alterations to essential wildlife habitats. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)) uses dens as shelters against cold temperatures and predators. These dens, needed for successful reproduction, are generally dug into the active layer on top of pe...
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Canadian Science Publishing
2021
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crcansciencepubl:10.1139/as-2019-0007 2023-12-17T10:22:57+01:00 Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada Lapierre Poulin, Florence Fortier, Daniel Berteaux, Dominique 2021 http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2019-0007 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2019-0007 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2019-0007 en eng Canadian Science Publishing http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining Arctic Science volume 7, issue 4, page 746-761 ISSN 2368-7460 2368-7460 General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Agricultural and Biological Sciences General Environmental Science journal-article 2021 crcansciencepubl https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2019-0007 2023-11-19T13:39:26Z Climate change increases the risk of severe alterations to essential wildlife habitats. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)) uses dens as shelters against cold temperatures and predators. These dens, needed for successful reproduction, are generally dug into the active layer on top of permafrost and reused across multiple generations. We assessed the vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to the increasing frequency of geohazards (thaw settlement, mass movements, and thermal erosion) that is arising from climate change. On Bylot Island (Nunavut, Canada) we developed, and calculated from field observations, a qualitative vulnerability index to geohazards for Arctic fox dens. Of the 106 dens studied, 14% were classified as highly vulnerable, whereas 17% and 69% had a moderate and low vulnerability, respectively. Vulnerability was not related to the probability of use for reproduction. Although climate change will likely impact Arctic fox reproductive dens, such impact is not a major threat to foxes of Bylot Island. Our research provides the first insights into the climate-related geohazards potentially affecting Arctic fox ecology in the next decades. The developed method is flexible and could be applied to other locations or other species that complete their life cycle in permafrost regions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Fox Arctic Bylot Island Climate change Nunavut permafrost Vulpes lagopus Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) Arctic Nunavut Bylot Island Canada Arctic Science 1 16 |
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Open Polar |
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Canadian Science Publishing (via Crossref) |
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crcansciencepubl |
language |
English |
topic |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Agricultural and Biological Sciences General Environmental Science |
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General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Agricultural and Biological Sciences General Environmental Science Lapierre Poulin, Florence Fortier, Daniel Berteaux, Dominique Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada |
topic_facet |
General Earth and Planetary Sciences General Agricultural and Biological Sciences General Environmental Science |
description |
Climate change increases the risk of severe alterations to essential wildlife habitats. The Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus (Linnaeus, 1758)) uses dens as shelters against cold temperatures and predators. These dens, needed for successful reproduction, are generally dug into the active layer on top of permafrost and reused across multiple generations. We assessed the vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to the increasing frequency of geohazards (thaw settlement, mass movements, and thermal erosion) that is arising from climate change. On Bylot Island (Nunavut, Canada) we developed, and calculated from field observations, a qualitative vulnerability index to geohazards for Arctic fox dens. Of the 106 dens studied, 14% were classified as highly vulnerable, whereas 17% and 69% had a moderate and low vulnerability, respectively. Vulnerability was not related to the probability of use for reproduction. Although climate change will likely impact Arctic fox reproductive dens, such impact is not a major threat to foxes of Bylot Island. Our research provides the first insights into the climate-related geohazards potentially affecting Arctic fox ecology in the next decades. The developed method is flexible and could be applied to other locations or other species that complete their life cycle in permafrost regions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lapierre Poulin, Florence Fortier, Daniel Berteaux, Dominique |
author_facet |
Lapierre Poulin, Florence Fortier, Daniel Berteaux, Dominique |
author_sort |
Lapierre Poulin, Florence |
title |
Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada |
title_short |
Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada |
title_full |
Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada |
title_fullStr |
Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada |
title_full_unstemmed |
Low vulnerability of Arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada |
title_sort |
low vulnerability of arctic fox dens to climate change-related geohazards on bylot island, nunavut, canada |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/as-2019-0007 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1139/as-2019-0007 https://cdnsciencepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/as-2019-0007 |
geographic |
Arctic Nunavut Bylot Island Canada |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Nunavut Bylot Island Canada |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Fox Arctic Bylot Island Climate change Nunavut permafrost Vulpes lagopus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Fox Arctic Bylot Island Climate change Nunavut permafrost Vulpes lagopus |
op_source |
Arctic Science volume 7, issue 4, page 746-761 ISSN 2368-7460 2368-7460 |
op_rights |
http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/page/about/CorporateTextAndDataMining |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2019-0007 |
container_title |
Arctic Science |
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1 |
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16 |
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1785554832514351104 |