Keeping cool in the warming Arctic: Thermoregulatory behaviour by Svalbard reindeer

• Main Authors: Williamsen, Linda, Pigeon, Gabriel, Mysterud, Atle, Stien, Audun, Forchhammer, Mads, Loe, Leif Egil
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing) 2019
• Subjects: Arctic; Svalbard; Climate change; Rangifer tarandus; Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus; svalbard reindeer
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/98261; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjz-2019-0090

In animals with long generation times, evolution of physiological and morphological traits may not be fast enough to keep up with rapid climate warming, but thermoregulatory behaviour can possibly serve as an important buffer mitigating warming effects. In this study, we investigated if the cold-adapted Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus (Vrolik, 1829)) used cool bed sites as a thermoregulatory behaviour in the summer. We recorded habitat variables and ground temperature at 371 bed sites with random “control” sites 10 and 100 m distant. Using case-control logistic regression, we found that reindeer selected bed sites on cool substrates (snow and mire), as well as cold, dry ground on days with warm ambient temperatures, while they avoided such sites on cold days. Selection of both cool substrates and cool ground did not depend on age or sex. The study was conducted in an environment where neither predatory threat nor insect harassment influenced bed site selection. Our findings suggest that the thermal landscape is important for habitat selection of cold-adapted Arctic ungulates in summer. Thus, behavioural strategies may be important to mitigate effects of climate change, at least in the short term. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author.