Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations
The migratory tundra caribou herds in North America follow decadal population cycles, and browsing from abundant caribou could be expected to counteract the current climate-driven expansion of shrubs in the circumpolar tundra biome. We demonstrate that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has provi...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/2144/26696 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28508037 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601365 |
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ftbostonuniv:oai:open.bu.edu:2144/26696 2023-05-15T14:25:41+02:00 Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations Fauchald, Per Park, Taejin Tømmervik, Hans Myneni, Ranga Hausner, Vera Helene United States 2017-04-26 e1601365 - ? https://hdl.handle.net/2144/26696 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28508037 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601365 eng eng Sci Adv https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28508037 Per Fauchald, Taejin Park, Hans Tømmervik, Ranga Myneni, Vera Helene Hausner. 2017. "Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations." Sci Adv, Volume 3, Issue 4: e1601365. 2375-2548 https://hdl.handle.net/2144/26696 doi:10.1126/sciadv.1601365 0000-0002-0234-6393 (Myneni, Ranga) 2017 © The Authors, some rights reserved. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ CC-BY-NC Science & technology Multidisciplinary sciences Tundra vegetation change Sea-ice decline Time series Plant phenology Herbivores Climate Arctic sea ice Climate change Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Rangifer tarandus Population dynamics Caribou Article 2017 ftbostonuniv https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601365 2022-07-11T12:00:42Z The migratory tundra caribou herds in North America follow decadal population cycles, and browsing from abundant caribou could be expected to counteract the current climate-driven expansion of shrubs in the circumpolar tundra biome. We demonstrate that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has provided a strong signal for climate-induced changes on the adjacent caribou summer ranges, outperforming other climate indices in explaining the caribou-plant dynamics. We found no evidence of a negative effect of caribou abundance on vegetation biomass. On the contrary, we found a strong bottom-up effect in which a warmer climate related to diminishing sea ice has increased the plant biomass on the summer pastures, along with a paradoxical decline in caribou populations. This result suggests that this climate-induced greening has been accompanied by a deterioration of pasture quality. The shrub expansion in Arctic North America involves plant species with strong antibrowsing defenses. Our results might therefore be an early signal of a climate-driven shift in the caribou-plant interaction from a system with low plant biomass modulated by cyclic caribou populations to a system dominated by nonedible shrubs and diminishing herds of migratory caribou. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Arctic Greening Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Rangifer tarandus Sea ice Tundra Boston University: OpenBU Arctic Arctic Ocean Science Advances 3 4 e1601365 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Boston University: OpenBU |
op_collection_id |
ftbostonuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Science & technology Multidisciplinary sciences Tundra vegetation change Sea-ice decline Time series Plant phenology Herbivores Climate Arctic sea ice Climate change Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Rangifer tarandus Population dynamics Caribou |
spellingShingle |
Science & technology Multidisciplinary sciences Tundra vegetation change Sea-ice decline Time series Plant phenology Herbivores Climate Arctic sea ice Climate change Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Rangifer tarandus Population dynamics Caribou Fauchald, Per Park, Taejin Tømmervik, Hans Myneni, Ranga Hausner, Vera Helene Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
topic_facet |
Science & technology Multidisciplinary sciences Tundra vegetation change Sea-ice decline Time series Plant phenology Herbivores Climate Arctic sea ice Climate change Normalized Difference Vegetation Index Rangifer tarandus Population dynamics Caribou |
description |
The migratory tundra caribou herds in North America follow decadal population cycles, and browsing from abundant caribou could be expected to counteract the current climate-driven expansion of shrubs in the circumpolar tundra biome. We demonstrate that the sea ice cover in the Arctic Ocean has provided a strong signal for climate-induced changes on the adjacent caribou summer ranges, outperforming other climate indices in explaining the caribou-plant dynamics. We found no evidence of a negative effect of caribou abundance on vegetation biomass. On the contrary, we found a strong bottom-up effect in which a warmer climate related to diminishing sea ice has increased the plant biomass on the summer pastures, along with a paradoxical decline in caribou populations. This result suggests that this climate-induced greening has been accompanied by a deterioration of pasture quality. The shrub expansion in Arctic North America involves plant species with strong antibrowsing defenses. Our results might therefore be an early signal of a climate-driven shift in the caribou-plant interaction from a system with low plant biomass modulated by cyclic caribou populations to a system dominated by nonedible shrubs and diminishing herds of migratory caribou. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Fauchald, Per Park, Taejin Tømmervik, Hans Myneni, Ranga Hausner, Vera Helene |
author_facet |
Fauchald, Per Park, Taejin Tømmervik, Hans Myneni, Ranga Hausner, Vera Helene |
author_sort |
Fauchald, Per |
title |
Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
title_short |
Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
title_full |
Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
title_fullStr |
Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
title_sort |
arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/2144/26696 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28508037 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601365 |
op_coverage |
United States |
geographic |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Arctic Ocean |
genre |
Arctic Arctic Greening Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Rangifer tarandus Sea ice Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arctic Greening Arctic Arctic Ocean Climate change Rangifer tarandus Sea ice Tundra |
op_relation |
Sci Adv https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28508037 Per Fauchald, Taejin Park, Hans Tømmervik, Ranga Myneni, Vera Helene Hausner. 2017. "Arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations." Sci Adv, Volume 3, Issue 4: e1601365. 2375-2548 https://hdl.handle.net/2144/26696 doi:10.1126/sciadv.1601365 0000-0002-0234-6393 (Myneni, Ranga) |
op_rights |
2017 © The Authors, some rights reserved. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601365 |
container_title |
Science Advances |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e1601365 |
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1766298121197846528 |