Effects of global warming on reindeer husbandry in the Swedish subarctic

• Main Author: Fusté Ballesteros, Jordi
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: Geography; Animal husbandry; Agricultural engineering; Mathematical and statistical methods; Abisko; reindeer husbandry; sami; Subarctic
• Online Access: https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/2071/1/ballesteros_j_f_101213.pdf

The Abisko Scientific Research Station (ANS) is located in the far north of Sweden, in a subarctic environment inhabited mostly by the Sami people. ANS has conducted research for more than hundred years, with its current focus set on interdisciplinary research regarding the effects of climate-change on the subarctic environment. Since the subarctic region changes faster than many other regions, ANS attracts climate change scientists from all over the world, with approximately 500 visitors per year, resulting in large numbers of data being generated. The present study focused on observations of temperature changes in the region, utilizing a database covering the Abisko region. As a result of climate change, geographic characteristics of the vegetation in the Abisko region are changing, propagating at a speed determined by micro-climatic conditions such as aspect and elevation. Temperature may be considered as an effect of such microclimatic factors, and is in conjunction with soil properties determining the vegetation characteristics.