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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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Autores principales: Hiltunen, Tamara A., Stien, Audun, Väisänen, Maria, Ropstad, Erik, Aspi, Jouni O., Welker, Jeffery M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9826046/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36071549
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420
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author Hiltunen, Tamara A.
Stien, Audun
Väisänen, Maria
Ropstad, Erik
Aspi, Jouni O.
Welker, Jeffery M.
author_facet Hiltunen, Tamara A.
Stien, Audun
Väisänen, Maria
Ropstad, Erik
Aspi, Jouni O.
Welker, Jeffery M.
author_sort Hiltunen, Tamara A.
collection PubMed
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.
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spelling pubmed-98260462023-01-09 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. Glob Chang Biol Research Articles 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. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2022-09-17 2022-12 /pmc/articles/PMC9826046/ /pubmed/36071549 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420 Text en © 2022 The Authors. Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Articles
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
title 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_short 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
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9826046/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36071549
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/gcb.16420
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