Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate
Snow and ice determine winter forage availability for Arctic herbivores. Winter precipitation is anticipated to increase, and icing following warm spells and rain-on-snow (ROS) are likely to become more frequent. While this may reduce herbivore survival, fecundity and population growth, we can also...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2462096 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 |
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ftntnutrondheimi:oai:ntnuopen.ntnu.no:11250/2462096 2023-05-15T15:02:03+02:00 Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate Beumer, Larissa Teresa Varpe, Øystein Hansen, Brage Bremset 2017 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2462096 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 eng eng Taylor & Francis Norges forskningsråd: 224647 Svalbards miljøvernfond: 13/74 Norges forskningsråd: 223257 Polar Research. 2017, 36 (1), . urn:issn:0800-0395 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2462096 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 cristin:1386758 Navngivelse-Ikkekommersiell 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.no CC-BY-NC 12 36 Polar Research 1 Journal article Peer reviewed 2017 ftntnutrondheimi https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 2019-09-17T06:52:57Z Snow and ice determine winter forage availability for Arctic herbivores. Winter precipitation is anticipated to increase, and icing following warm spells and rain-on-snow (ROS) are likely to become more frequent. While this may reduce herbivore survival, fecundity and population growth, we can also expect behavioural and dietary responses. Here, we tested predictions from optimal foraging theory on how changing snowpack conditions influence choice of feeding craters and diet quality in a large generalist herbivore, the wild Svalbard reindeer. Snow and ice conditions over winter 2012/13 (a ‘normal’ winter with little ROS and icing) were measured in reindeer feeding craters, in paired controls one metre away and in fixed control sites. On average, feeding craters had less snow and integrated ram hardness (IRH, the force needed to reach the ground), but not less ice, than nearby controls. However, on this fine spatial scale, reindeer tended to select for microhabitat with worse snowpack conditions up to a certain level of snow (ca. 10 cm), ice (0.5 cm) and IRH (250 kg cm) in the nearby controls, reflecting the trade-off between selection for forage abundance versus accessibility in a sparsely vegetated environment. In this lichen-free system, faecal C:N ratios increased during winter as forage accessibility was increasingly restricted by snow, possibly indicating a reduction in diet quality due to changes in diet composition. Our study suggests that snowpack depth and hardness largely determine Svalbard reindeer feeding behaviour and diet quality during the course of a winter season. publishedVersion © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Polar Research Svalbard svalbard reindeer NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) Arctic Svalbard Polar Research 36 1 1286121 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
NTNU Open Archive (Norwegian University of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftntnutrondheimi |
language |
English |
description |
Snow and ice determine winter forage availability for Arctic herbivores. Winter precipitation is anticipated to increase, and icing following warm spells and rain-on-snow (ROS) are likely to become more frequent. While this may reduce herbivore survival, fecundity and population growth, we can also expect behavioural and dietary responses. Here, we tested predictions from optimal foraging theory on how changing snowpack conditions influence choice of feeding craters and diet quality in a large generalist herbivore, the wild Svalbard reindeer. Snow and ice conditions over winter 2012/13 (a ‘normal’ winter with little ROS and icing) were measured in reindeer feeding craters, in paired controls one metre away and in fixed control sites. On average, feeding craters had less snow and integrated ram hardness (IRH, the force needed to reach the ground), but not less ice, than nearby controls. However, on this fine spatial scale, reindeer tended to select for microhabitat with worse snowpack conditions up to a certain level of snow (ca. 10 cm), ice (0.5 cm) and IRH (250 kg cm) in the nearby controls, reflecting the trade-off between selection for forage abundance versus accessibility in a sparsely vegetated environment. In this lichen-free system, faecal C:N ratios increased during winter as forage accessibility was increasingly restricted by snow, possibly indicating a reduction in diet quality due to changes in diet composition. Our study suggests that snowpack depth and hardness largely determine Svalbard reindeer feeding behaviour and diet quality during the course of a winter season. publishedVersion © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/),which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Beumer, Larissa Teresa Varpe, Øystein Hansen, Brage Bremset |
spellingShingle |
Beumer, Larissa Teresa Varpe, Øystein Hansen, Brage Bremset Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate |
author_facet |
Beumer, Larissa Teresa Varpe, Øystein Hansen, Brage Bremset |
author_sort |
Beumer, Larissa Teresa |
title |
Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate |
title_short |
Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate |
title_full |
Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate |
title_fullStr |
Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Cratering behaviour and faecal C:N ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a High-Arctic ungulate |
title_sort |
cratering behaviour and faecal c:n ratio in relation to seasonal snow-pack characteristics in a high-arctic ungulate |
publisher |
Taylor & Francis |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2462096 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Polar Research Svalbard svalbard reindeer |
genre_facet |
Arctic Polar Research Svalbard svalbard reindeer |
op_source |
12 36 Polar Research 1 |
op_relation |
Norges forskningsråd: 224647 Svalbards miljøvernfond: 13/74 Norges forskningsråd: 223257 Polar Research. 2017, 36 (1), . urn:issn:0800-0395 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2462096 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 cristin:1386758 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse-Ikkekommersiell 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/deed.no |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1286121 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
36 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
1286121 |
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1766334053297946624 |