Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate
Arctic ecosystems are changing dramatically with warmer and wetter conditions resulting in complex interactions between herbivores and their forage. We investigated how Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) modify their late winter diets in response to long-term trends and interannual...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27287 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/27287 2023-05-15T14:58:37+02:00 Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate Hiltunen, Tamara A. Stien, Audun Väisänen, Maria Ropstad, Erik Aspi, Jouni O. Welker, Jeffery M. 2022-09-07 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27287 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420 eng eng Wiley Global Change Biology Hiltunen, Stien, Väisänen, Ropstad, Aspi, Welker. Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate. Global Change Biology. 2022;28(23):7009-7022 FRIDAID 2059227 doi:10.1111/gcb.16420 1354-1013 1365-2486 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27287 Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2022 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420 2022-11-10T00:01:31Z Arctic ecosystems are changing dramatically with warmer and wetter conditions resulting in complex interactions between herbivores and their forage. We investigated how Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) modify their late winter diets in response to long-term trends and interannual variation in forage availability and accessibility. By reconstructing their diets and foraging niches over a 17-year period (1995–2012) using serum δ 13 C and δ 15 N values, we found strong support for a temporal increase in the proportions of graminoids in the diets with a concurrent decline in the contributions of mosses. This dietary shift corresponds with graminoid abundance increases in the region and was associated with increases in population density, warmer summer temperatures and more frequent rain-on-snow (ROS) in winter. In addition, the variance in isotopic niche positions, breadths, and overlaps also supported a temporal shift in the foraging niche and a dietary response to extreme ROS events. Our long-term study highlights the mechanisms by which winter and summer climate changes cascade through vegetation shifts and herbivore population dynamics to alter the foraging niche of Svalbard reindeer. Although it has been anticipated that climate changes in the Svalbard region of the Arctic would be detrimental to this unique ungulate, our study suggests that environmental change is in a phase where conditions are improving for this subspecies at the northernmost edge of the Rangifer distribution. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Rangifer tarandus Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus Svalbard svalbard reindeer University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Arctic Svalbard Global Change Biology 28 23 7009 7022 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
description |
Arctic ecosystems are changing dramatically with warmer and wetter conditions resulting in complex interactions between herbivores and their forage. We investigated how Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) modify their late winter diets in response to long-term trends and interannual variation in forage availability and accessibility. By reconstructing their diets and foraging niches over a 17-year period (1995–2012) using serum δ 13 C and δ 15 N values, we found strong support for a temporal increase in the proportions of graminoids in the diets with a concurrent decline in the contributions of mosses. This dietary shift corresponds with graminoid abundance increases in the region and was associated with increases in population density, warmer summer temperatures and more frequent rain-on-snow (ROS) in winter. In addition, the variance in isotopic niche positions, breadths, and overlaps also supported a temporal shift in the foraging niche and a dietary response to extreme ROS events. Our long-term study highlights the mechanisms by which winter and summer climate changes cascade through vegetation shifts and herbivore population dynamics to alter the foraging niche of Svalbard reindeer. Although it has been anticipated that climate changes in the Svalbard region of the Arctic would be detrimental to this unique ungulate, our study suggests that environmental change is in a phase where conditions are improving for this subspecies at the northernmost edge of the Rangifer distribution. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hiltunen, Tamara A. Stien, Audun Väisänen, Maria Ropstad, Erik Aspi, Jouni O. Welker, Jeffery M. |
spellingShingle |
Hiltunen, Tamara A. Stien, Audun Väisänen, Maria Ropstad, Erik Aspi, Jouni O. Welker, Jeffery M. Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
author_facet |
Hiltunen, Tamara A. Stien, Audun Väisänen, Maria Ropstad, Erik Aspi, Jouni O. Welker, Jeffery M. |
author_sort |
Hiltunen, Tamara A. |
title |
Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
title_short |
Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
title_full |
Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
title_fullStr |
Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
title_full_unstemmed |
Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
title_sort |
svalbard reindeer winter diets: long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27287 https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Rangifer tarandus Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus Svalbard svalbard reindeer |
genre_facet |
Arctic Rangifer tarandus Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus Svalbard svalbard reindeer |
op_relation |
Global Change Biology Hiltunen, Stien, Väisänen, Ropstad, Aspi, Welker. Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate. Global Change Biology. 2022;28(23):7009-7022 FRIDAID 2059227 doi:10.1111/gcb.16420 1354-1013 1365-2486 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/27287 |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) openAccess Copyright 2022 The Author(s) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420 |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
28 |
container_issue |
23 |
container_start_page |
7009 |
op_container_end_page |
7022 |
_version_ |
1766330742052225024 |