Effects of Wind-Hardened Snow on Foraging by Reindeer (Rangifer Tarandus)

• Published in: ARCTIC
• Main Authors: Collins, W.B., Smith, T.S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Arctic Institute of North America 1991
• Subjects: Animal behaviour; Animal food; Craters; Reindeer; Snow; Surface properties; Thickness; Tundra ecology; Winds; Seward Peninsula; Alaska; Arctic; Rangifer tarandus; Tundra
• Online Access: https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/arctic/article/view/64595

Various methods were investigated for assessing the relationship between wind-hardened snow (upsik) and forage availability to reindeer. Mean bottom area of individual craters was not a function of depth, hardness or integrated hardness. Individual crater area was partially dependent on specific cratering time (r2 = .60). Cratering time per active period increased with integrated snow hardness (r2 = .88). Number of craters and total area cratered increased with decreasing site hardness. Reindeer always cratered microsites of lesser depth and hardness than found in the general feeding site. A threefold decrease in snow hardness resulted in a fourfold increase in forage availability.Key words: Rangifer, snow hardness, snow depth, forage availability Mots clés: Rangifer, dureté de la neige, profondeur de la neige, accessibilité aux plantes fourragères