Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch
In highly seasonal environments, offspring production by vertebrates is timed to coincide with the annual peak of resource availability. For herbivores, this resource peak is represented by the annual onset and progression of the plant growth season. As plant phenology advances in response to climat...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 2024-09-15T18:02:27+00:00 Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch Post, Eric Forchhammer, Mads C 2007 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 363, issue 1501, page 2367-2373 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 journal-article 2007 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 2024-08-12T04:27:46Z In highly seasonal environments, offspring production by vertebrates is timed to coincide with the annual peak of resource availability. For herbivores, this resource peak is represented by the annual onset and progression of the plant growth season. As plant phenology advances in response to climatic warming, there is potential for development of a mismatch between the peak of resource demands by reproducing herbivores and the peak of resource availability. For migratory herbivores, such as caribou, development of a trophic mismatch is particularly likely because the timing of their seasonal migration to summer ranges, where calves are born, is cued by changes in day length, while onset of the plant-growing season on the same ranges is cued by local temperatures. Using data collected since 1993 on timing of calving by caribou and timing of plant growth in West Greenland, we document the consequences for reproductive success of a developing trophic mismatch between caribou and their forage plants. As mean spring temperatures at our study site have risen by more than 4°C, caribou have not kept pace with advancement of the plant-growing season on their calving range. As a consequence, offspring mortality has risen and offspring production has dropped fourfold. Article in Journal/Newspaper Climate change Greenland The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 363 1501 2367 2373 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
In highly seasonal environments, offspring production by vertebrates is timed to coincide with the annual peak of resource availability. For herbivores, this resource peak is represented by the annual onset and progression of the plant growth season. As plant phenology advances in response to climatic warming, there is potential for development of a mismatch between the peak of resource demands by reproducing herbivores and the peak of resource availability. For migratory herbivores, such as caribou, development of a trophic mismatch is particularly likely because the timing of their seasonal migration to summer ranges, where calves are born, is cued by changes in day length, while onset of the plant-growing season on the same ranges is cued by local temperatures. Using data collected since 1993 on timing of calving by caribou and timing of plant growth in West Greenland, we document the consequences for reproductive success of a developing trophic mismatch between caribou and their forage plants. As mean spring temperatures at our study site have risen by more than 4°C, caribou have not kept pace with advancement of the plant-growing season on their calving range. As a consequence, offspring mortality has risen and offspring production has dropped fourfold. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Post, Eric Forchhammer, Mads C |
spellingShingle |
Post, Eric Forchhammer, Mads C Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
author_facet |
Post, Eric Forchhammer, Mads C |
author_sort |
Post, Eric |
title |
Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
title_short |
Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
title_full |
Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
title_fullStr |
Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate change reduces reproductive success of an Arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
title_sort |
climate change reduces reproductive success of an arctic herbivore through trophic mismatch |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2007 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 |
genre |
Climate change Greenland |
genre_facet |
Climate change Greenland |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences volume 363, issue 1501, page 2367-2373 ISSN 0962-8436 1471-2970 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2007.2207 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
container_volume |
363 |
container_issue |
1501 |
container_start_page |
2367 |
op_container_end_page |
2373 |
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1810439917004652544 |