Tundra Caribou in Global Warming Crisis
Arctic Animals Including Reindeer Face Bleak Future
Sep 11, 2009
Animals that live close to the North Pole have evolved to survive the winter weather. Global warming is bad news for them. There is less and less sea ice, spring comes earlier each year, and snow often thaws only to re-freeze as ice.
Eric Post of Pennsylvania State University said, ‘Sea ice is like rainforest in the tropics. There are species that can't live without it’ in a recent paper that reviews climate change's impact on the Arctic (Science – 11 September 2009).
Arctic species relying on the sea ice include the Ivory Gull, the Pacific Walrus, the Ringed Seal, the Hooded Seal, the Narwhal and the Polar Bear. The Polar Bear has been studied in detail, and the effects of global warming are clear.
The effects of climate change on tundra species such as the Muskox and the Arctic Fox was not well known previously, and what is happening to the tundra caribou herds (reindeer) came as a complete shock.
Arctic Tundra Caribou
- Caribou migrate to their calving areas at a set season. This has evolved to give the young a healthy start as the spring growth gets underway.
- Spring is now coming early, but the caribou are sticking to their original timetable. Given a slow enough rate of change they could probably adapt, but current temperature increases (and with them the timing of spring plant growth) happen too quickly for them to cope. The calves now arrive to find the plants are past their best.
- Warmer summers mean more insect life on the tundra. Caribou have always been plagued by biting insects, and it takes their mind off feeding! More insects means less efficient use of the summer vegetation.
- Warmer winters might seem like a good thing for caribou, but instead of snow (which caribou have evolved to cope with), there is frequently freezing rain. This forms layers of ice that are difficult to penetrate to get at the food. Many starve.
Rate of Climate Change
Records suggest that there has been an average temperature increase of around one degree Celsius in the Arctic over the past 150 years, and arctic animals do not seem to be able to cope well with that.
If the rate of change increases, and the temperature rises by the six degrees expected in the next century the Arctic as we know it will simply cease to exist.
References: Scientific American, September 2009 Survey and Reindeer - BBC Earth News June 2009
BNC101
See also: ‘Coral Reef Crisis’ and ‘Coralline Algae’.
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