Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization
Abstract The rapid warming of the Arctic may not only alter species’ abundances and distributions, but likely also the trophic interactions within and between ecosystems. On the high‐arctic tundra, extreme warm spells and associated rain‐on‐snow events in winter can encapsulate the vegetation entire...
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crwiley:10.1002/ecs2.2672 2024-09-15T18:02:21+00:00 Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization Hansen, Brage Bremset Lorentzen, Jon Runar Welker, Jeffrey M. Varpe, Øystein Aanes, Ronny Beumer, Larissa Teresa Pedersen, Åshild Ønvik Norges Forskningsråd National Science Foundation 2019 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2672 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2672 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ecs2.2672 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2672 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Ecosphere volume 10, issue 4 ISSN 2150-8925 2150-8925 journal-article 2019 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2672 2024-08-30T04:09:30Z Abstract The rapid warming of the Arctic may not only alter species’ abundances and distributions, but likely also the trophic interactions within and between ecosystems. On the high‐arctic tundra, extreme warm spells and associated rain‐on‐snow events in winter can encapsulate the vegetation entirely in ground‐ice (i.e., basal ice) and directly or indirectly affect plants, herbivores, and carnivores. However, the implications of such extreme events for trophic interactions and food‐web ecology are generally far from understood. Here, we show that wild Svalbard reindeer populations increasingly isolated by lack of sea‐ice respond to rain‐on‐snow and ice‐locked pastures by increased kelp consumption. Based on annual population surveys in late winters 2006–2015, the proportion of individual reindeer feeding along the shoreline increased the icier the winter. Stable isotope values (δ 34 S, δ 13 C, δ 15 N) of plants, washed‐ashore kelp, and fresh reindeer feces collected along coast‐inland gradients, confirmed ingestion of marine biomass by the reindeer in the shoreline habitat. Thus, even on remote islands and peninsulas increasingly isolated by sea‐ice loss, effects of climate change may be buffered in part by behavioral plasticity and increased use of resource subsidies. This marine dimension of a terrestrial herbivore's realized foraging niche adds to evidence that global warming significantly alters trophic interactions as well as meta‐ecosystem processes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Climate change Global warming Sea ice Svalbard svalbard reindeer Tundra Wiley Online Library Ecosphere 10 4 |
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Open Polar |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
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English |
description |
Abstract The rapid warming of the Arctic may not only alter species’ abundances and distributions, but likely also the trophic interactions within and between ecosystems. On the high‐arctic tundra, extreme warm spells and associated rain‐on‐snow events in winter can encapsulate the vegetation entirely in ground‐ice (i.e., basal ice) and directly or indirectly affect plants, herbivores, and carnivores. However, the implications of such extreme events for trophic interactions and food‐web ecology are generally far from understood. Here, we show that wild Svalbard reindeer populations increasingly isolated by lack of sea‐ice respond to rain‐on‐snow and ice‐locked pastures by increased kelp consumption. Based on annual population surveys in late winters 2006–2015, the proportion of individual reindeer feeding along the shoreline increased the icier the winter. Stable isotope values (δ 34 S, δ 13 C, δ 15 N) of plants, washed‐ashore kelp, and fresh reindeer feces collected along coast‐inland gradients, confirmed ingestion of marine biomass by the reindeer in the shoreline habitat. Thus, even on remote islands and peninsulas increasingly isolated by sea‐ice loss, effects of climate change may be buffered in part by behavioral plasticity and increased use of resource subsidies. This marine dimension of a terrestrial herbivore's realized foraging niche adds to evidence that global warming significantly alters trophic interactions as well as meta‐ecosystem processes. |
author2 |
Norges Forskningsråd National Science Foundation |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hansen, Brage Bremset Lorentzen, Jon Runar Welker, Jeffrey M. Varpe, Øystein Aanes, Ronny Beumer, Larissa Teresa Pedersen, Åshild Ønvik |
spellingShingle |
Hansen, Brage Bremset Lorentzen, Jon Runar Welker, Jeffrey M. Varpe, Øystein Aanes, Ronny Beumer, Larissa Teresa Pedersen, Åshild Ønvik Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
author_facet |
Hansen, Brage Bremset Lorentzen, Jon Runar Welker, Jeffrey M. Varpe, Øystein Aanes, Ronny Beumer, Larissa Teresa Pedersen, Åshild Ønvik |
author_sort |
Hansen, Brage Bremset |
title |
Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
title_short |
Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
title_full |
Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
title_fullStr |
Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reindeer turning maritime: Ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
title_sort |
reindeer turning maritime: ice‐locked tundra triggers changes in dietary niche utilization |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2672 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2672 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/ecs2.2672 https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ecs2.2672 |
genre |
Climate change Global warming Sea ice Svalbard svalbard reindeer Tundra |
genre_facet |
Climate change Global warming Sea ice Svalbard svalbard reindeer Tundra |
op_source |
Ecosphere volume 10, issue 4 ISSN 2150-8925 2150-8925 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2672 |
container_title |
Ecosphere |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1810439808921632768 |