Kelp and seaweed feeding by High-Arctic wild reindeer under extreme winter conditions

• Published in: Polar Research
• Main Authors: Hansen, Brage Bremset, Aanes, Ronny
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2012
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Polar Research; Rangifer tarandus; Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus; Sea ice; svalbard reindeer
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2459115; https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v31i0.17258

One challenge in current Arctic ecological research is to understand and predict how wildlife may respond to increased frequencies of “extreme” weather events. Heavy rain-on-snow (ROS) is one such extreme phenomenon associated with winter warming that is not well studied but has potentially profound ecosystem effects through changes in snow-pack properties and ice formation. Here, we document how ice-locked pastures following substantial amounts of ROS forced coastal Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) to use marine habitat in late winter 2010. A thick coat of ground ice covered 98% of the lowland ranges, almost completely blocking access to terrestrial forage. Accordingly, a population census revealed that 13% of the total population (n=26 of 206 individuals) and 21% of one sub-population were feeding on washed-up kelp and seaweed on the sea-ice foot. Calves were overrepresented among the individuals that applied this foraging strategy, which probably represents a last attempt to avoid starvation under particularly severe foraging conditions. The study adds to the impression that extreme weather events such as heavy ROS and associated icing can trigger large changes in the realized foraging niche of Arctic herbivores. acceptedVersion This is an acceptedl manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Polar Research on 09 Mar 2012, available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3402/polar.v31i0.17258