Impacts of climate variability on reindeer demographics in Swedish Lapland : the methodological relevence of the pastoral calendar

• Main Authors: Courault, Romain, Cohen, Marianne, Said, Sonia, Ronchail, Josyane
• Other Authors: UMR 228 Espace-Dev, Espace pour le développement, Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-Avignon Université (AU)-Université de La Réunion (UR)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Université de Guyane (UG)-Université des Antilles (UA), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD), Sorbonne Université - Faculté des Lettres - UFR Géographie et Aménagement (SU UFR GA), Sorbonne Université (SU), MÉDIATIONS - Sciences des lieux, sciences des liens, Office français de la biodiversité (OFB), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut Pierre-Simon-Laplace (IPSL (FR_636)), École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité)-École normale supérieure - Paris (ENS-PSL), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)-École polytechnique (X)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Université Paris Cité - UFR Géographie, histoire, économie et sociétés Sociétés et Humanités (UPCité - UFR GHES), Université Paris Cité (UPCité), Institut de la Transition Environnementale et Faculté des Lettres de Sorbonne Université, Marianne Cohen, Christian Giusti
• Format: Book Part
• Language: French
• Published: HAL CCSD 2021
• Subjects: [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; [SDV.EE.BIO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Bioclimatology; [SDV.EE.ECO]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Ecology; environment/Ecosystems; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society; [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes; Abisko; Laponie; Rangifer tarandus; saami; Lapland; Norrbotten
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-03343168; https://hal.science/hal-03343168/document; https://hal.science/hal-03343168/file/geo_milieux_extremes_979-10-231-1815-5_ii_courault_0.pdf

International audience The semi-domesticated reindeer (Rangifer tarandus L.) is a natural and cultural resource for Saami herders. The pastoral activity in Swedish Lapland is traditionally semi-nomadic, and takes place between the summer mountain pastures and boreal forest landscape in winter. This breeding system is increasingly threatened by climate change, altering the accessibility and availability of plant resources and disrupting seasonal migration and demography of semi-domesticated reindeer. This study is focussed on the effect of climate time scales on ecological habitats and on the annual demography of reindeer herds. Two types of time slicing are compared: the four season’s weather used in climatology, and the pastoral seasons used by Saami reindeer herders (Saami Parliement). Meanwhile, the advantages of local climatic variables are compared to regional atmospheric indices, in an effort to determine of the impact of climate variability on the demography of reindeer. The study focus on the 1999-2013 period, in regards to the availability of sources, and because it is later to a statistical breakdown of regional and local weather types observed in 1988 (1950-2013). First, we characterize the temporal variability of land surface temperatures (MODIS) for different ecological habitats of the North Bothnia region (Sweden, CLC 2006). Time slicing in pastoral seasons better reflects the irregularity of land surface temperatures of the Rangifer tarandus L.’s ecological habitats, than the four weather seasons. Correlation tests are then performed (Spearman type) between regional atmospheric indices (NOAA-NCEP), local climatology (Abisko station, NOAA-NCDC, 1998-2013) and annual headcounts of two large herds of Norrbotten County, distinguishing fawns, male and female (1999-2013, Saami Parliement). Climatic conditions of late summer, the pastoral season being to a period of rest and regeneration of the ungulate species, correlate with reindeer population the best; they are indeed crucial to the ungulate ...