| emission changes dwarf the influence of feeding habits on temporal trends of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in two arctic top predators. | we monitored concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (pfass) in relation to climate-associated changes in feeding habits and food availability in polar bears (ursus maritimus) and arctic foxes (vulpes lagopus) (192 plasma and 113 liver samples, respectively) sampled from svalbard, norway, during 1997-2014. pfass concentrations became greater with increasing dietary trophic level, as bears and foxes consumed more marine as opposed to terrestrial food, and as the availability of sea ... | 2017 | 28918622 |
| giardia and cryptosporidium infections in neonatal reindeer calves: relation to the acute phase response. | this longitudinal observational study was conducted to investigate the spontaneous effect of giardia and cryptosporidium infections on acute phase response (apr) in reindeer calves (rangifer tarandus tarandus) in finnish lapland. serum (n=609) and faecal samples (n=366) were collected from 54 reindeer calves aged zero to 33days. the samples were analysed for giardia, cryptosporidium, acute phase proteins (app) and γ-globulins. linear regression models were used to investigate associations of ear ... | 2017 | 28916001 |
| vole abundance and reindeer carcasses determine breeding activity of arctic foxes in low arctic yamal, russia. | high latitude ecosystems are at present changing rapidly under the influence of climate warming, and specialized arctic species at the southern margin of the arctic may be particularly affected. the arctic fox (vulpes lagopus), a small mammalian predator endemic to northern tundra areas, is able to exploit different resources in the context of varying tundra ecosystems. although generally widespread, it is critically endangered in subarctic fennoscandia, where a fading out of the characteristic ... | 2017 | 28915877 |
| maintaining genetic integrity of coexisting wild and domestic populations: genetic differentiation between wild and domestic rangifer with long traditions of intentional interbreeding. | this study investigates the genetic effect of an indigenous tradition of deliberate and controlled interbreeding between wild and domestic rangifer. the results are interpreted in the context of conservation concerns and debates on the origin of domestic animals. the study is located in northeastern zabaĭkal'e, russia at approximately 57 degrees north latitude. blood and skin samples, collected from wild and domestic rangifer, are analyzed for their mtdna and microsatellite signatures. local hus ... | 2017 | 28904760 |
| pathology, clinical signs, and tissue distribution of toxoplasma gondii in experimentally infected reindeer (rangifer tarandus). | toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic parasite found in vertebrates worldwide for which felids serve as definitive hosts. despite low densities of felids in northern canada, inuit people in some regions show unexpectedly high levels of exposure, possibly through handling and consumption of arctic wildlife. free-ranging caribou (rangifer tarandus) are widely harvested for food across the canadian north, show evidence of seroexposure to t. gondii, and are currently declining in numbers throughout the ar ... | 2017 | 28879089 |
| rangifer management controls a climate-sensitive tundra state transition. | rangifer (caribou/reindeer) management has been suggested to mitigate the temperature-driven transition of arctic tundra into a shrubland state, yet how this happens is uncertain. here we study this much focused ecosystem state transition in riparian areas, where palatable willows (salix) are dominant tall shrubs and highly responsive to climate change. for the state transition to take place, small life stages must become tall and abundant. therefore we predicted that the performance of small li ... | 2017 | 28871616 |
| waiting for the sun: the circannual programme of reindeer is delayed by the recurrence of rhythmical melatonin secretion after the arctic night. | at temperate latitudes, the annual cycle of day length synchronizes circannual rhythms, and, in mammals, this is mediated via nocturnal production of the pineal hormone melatonin, proportional to the length of the night. here, we studied circannual synchronization in an arctic species, the reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus), which ceases to produce a rhythmic melatonin signal when it is exposed to extended periods of continuous midwinter darkness and continuous midsummer light. using food int ... | 2017 | 28864562 |
| herbivore grazing-or trampling? trampling effects by a large ungulate in cold high-latitude ecosystems. | mammalian herbivores have important top-down effects on ecological processes and landscapes by generating vegetation changes through grazing and trampling. for free-ranging herbivores on large landscapes, trampling is an important ecological factor. however, whereas grazing is widely studied, low-intensity trampling is rarely studied and quantified. the cold-adapted northern tundra reindeer (rangifer tarandus) is a wide-ranging keystone herbivore in large open alpine and arctic ecosystems. reind ... | 2017 | 28861245 |
| evolutionary responses to a changing climate: implications for reindeer population viability. | if we want to understand how climate change affects long-lived organisms, we must know how individuals allocate resources between current reproduction and survival. this trade-off is affected by expected environmental conditions, but the extent to which density independent (di) and density dependent (dd) processes interact in shaping individual life histories is less clear. female reindeer (or caribou: rangifer tarandus) are a monotocous large herbivore with a circumpolar distribution. individua ... | 2017 | 28808551 |
| forest productivity mitigates human disturbance effects on late-seral prey exposed to apparent competitors and predators. | primary production can determine the outcome of management actions on ecosystem properties, thereby defining sustainable management. yet human agencies commonly overlook spatio-temporal variations in productivity by recommending fixed resource extraction thresholds. we studied the influence of forest productivity on habitat disturbance levels that boreal caribou - a threatened, late-seral ungulate under top-down control - should be able to withstand. based on 10 years of boreal caribou monitorin ... | 2017 | 28744023 |
| spatial modeling of data with excessive zeros applied to reindeer pellet-group counts. | we analyze a real data set pertaining to reindeer fecal pellet-group counts obtained from a survey conducted in a forest area in northern sweden. in the data set, over 70% of counts are zeros, and there is high spatial correlation. we use conditionally autoregressive random effects for modeling of spatial correlation in a poisson generalized linear mixed model (glmm), quasi-poisson hierarchical generalized linear model (hglm), zero-inflated poisson (zip), and hurdle models. the quasi-poisson hgl ... | 2016 | 28725382 |
| pilot study investigating ambient air toxics emissions near a canadian kraft pulp and paper facility in pictou county, nova scotia. | air toxics are airborne pollutants known or suspected to cause cancer or other serious health effects, including certain volatile organic compounds (vocs), prioritized by the us environmental protection agency (epa). while several epa-designated air toxics are monitored at a subset of canadian national air pollution surveillance (naps) sites, canada has no specific "air toxics" control priorities. although pulp and paper (p&p) mills are major industrial emitters of air pollutants, few studies qu ... | 2017 | 28712086 |
| dating the middle paleolithic deposits of la quina amont (charente, france) using luminescence methods. | the site of la quina amont, located in the charente region, is one of the most important sites in southwestern france for studying major changes in human behaviors from the middle paleolithic (mp) to the early upper paleolithic (eup). extensively excavated over the past 50 years, numerous dating studies have been focused on the upper paleolithic deposits using radiocarbon on bone collagen and thermoluminescence (tl) on heated flints; however, the mousterian levels remain undated due to the scarc ... | 2017 | 28688458 |
| experimental warming alters migratory caribou forage quality. | global declines in caribou and reindeer (rangifer) populations have drawn attention to the myriad of stressors that these arctic and boreal forest herbivores currently face. arctic warming has resulted in increased tundra shrub growth and therefore rangifer forage quantity. however, its effects on forage quality have not yet been addressed although they may be critical to rangifer body condition and fecundity. we investigated the impact of 8 yrs of summer warming on the quality of forage availab ... | 2017 | 28653471 |
| reindeer habitat use in relation to two small wind farms, during preconstruction, construction, and operation. | worldwide there is a rush toward wind power development and its associated infrastructure. in fennoscandia, large-scale wind farms comprising several hundred windmills are currently built in important grazing ranges used for sámi reindeer husbandry. in this study, reindeer habitat use was assessed using reindeer fecal pellet group counts in relation to two relatively small wind farms, with 8 and 10 turbines, respectively. in 2009, 1,315 15-m2 plots were established and pellet groups were counted ... | 2017 | 28616184 |
| experimental life-cycle of varestrongylus eleguneniensis (nematoda: protostrongylidae) in a captive reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus) and a muskox (ovibos moschatus moschatus). | the life-cycle of a recently described protostrongylid lungworm, varestrongylus eleguneniensis, which infects caribou, muskoxen, and moose from arctic and boreal regions of north america, was completed experimentally for the first time. a native north american slug species, deroceras laeve, was infected with the first-stage larvae (l1) isolated from the feces of wild muskoxen to generate third-stage larvae (l3). these were administered to a captive reindeer calf (250 l3) and an adult captive mus ... | 2017 | 28590168 |
| buccal feed impaction and surgical correction in captive reindeer. | an 8-year-old female captive reindeer (rangifer tarandus) (1) was presented for evaluation of bilateral protrusion of the cheeks of 1-month duration. several members of the herd displayed similar clinical signs. examination revealed stretching and laxity of the cheek muscles and buccal food impaction. the defect of each cheek was surgically repaired in the field under heavy sedation and local anesthesia in staged procedures; no surgical complications were encountered. the patient recovered uneve ... | 2017 | 28588329 |
| unusually high-pitched neonate distress calls of the open-habitat mongolian gazelle (procapra gutturosa) and their anatomical and hormonal predictors. | in neonate ruminants, the acoustic structure of vocalizations may depend on sex, vocal anatomy, hormonal profiles and body mass and on environmental factors. in neonate wild-living mongolian gazelles procapra gutturosa, hand-captured during biomedical monitoring in the daurian steppes at the russian-mongolian border, we spectrographically analysed distress calls and measured body mass of 22 individuals (6 males, 16 females). for 20 (5 male, 15 female) of these individuals, serum testosterone lev ... | 2017 | 28578533 |
| arctic greening from warming promotes declines in caribou populations. | the migratory tundra caribou herds in north america follow decadal population cycles, and browsing from abundant caribou could be expected to counteract the current climate-driven expansion of shrubs in the circumpolar tundra biome. we demonstrate that the sea ice cover in the arctic ocean has provided a strong signal for climate-induced changes on the adjacent caribou summer ranges, outperforming other climate indices in explaining the caribou-plant dynamics. we found no evidence of a negative ... | 2017 | 28508037 |
| open tundra persist, but arctic features decline-vegetation changes in the warming fennoscandian tundra. | in the forest-tundra ecotone of the north fennoscandian inland, summer and winter temperatures have increased by two to three centigrades since 1965, which is expected to result in major vegetation changes. to document the expected expansion of woodlands and scrublands and its impact on the arctic vegetation, we repeated a vegetation transect study conducted in 1976 in the darju, spanning from woodland to a summit, 200 m above the tree line. contrary to our expectations, tree line movement was n ... | 2017 | 28488280 |
| ethnic identity negotiation among sami youth living in a majority sami community in norway. | this study was part of the international research project "circumpolar indigenous pathways to adulthood" (cipa). | 2017 | 28467230 |
| climate strategies: thinking through arctic examples. | frequent and unpredictable extreme weather events in siberia and alaska destroy infrastructure and threaten the livelihoods of circumpolar peoples. local responses are inventive and flexible. however, the distinct politics of post-soviet siberia and alaska play a key role in the pragmatics of strategic planning. the arctic is a planetary climate driver, but also holds the promise of massive resources in an ice-free future, producing tensions between 'environmental' and 'development' goals. drawi ... | 2017 | 28461427 |
| temporal variation in the operational sex ratio and male mating behaviours in reindeer (rangifer tarandus). | in polygynous species, sexual selection is mostly driven by male ability to monopolize access to females in oestrous. in ungulates, the operational sex ratio (osr), i.e. the proportion of males to individuals ready to mate, varies throughout the peak rut, resulting from the temporal variation in the number of females in oestrous. but the way males adjust their mating tactics to maximise their access to females in oestrous (i.e. as osr varies) is yet to be investigated. using 15 years of behaviou ... | 2017 | 28438692 |
| re-establishment of hummock topography promotes tree regeneration on highly disturbed moderate-rich fens. | winter exploration of oil sands deposits underlying wooded fens mostly eliminates the hummock-hollow topography on drilling pads and the ice roads leading to them, after their abandonment in spring. recovery of black spruce (picea mariana (p. mill.) b.s.p.) and tamarack (larix laricina (du roi) k. koch) on these disturbed peatlands is thought to depend on the recovery of hummock topography. in late winter, numerous large blocks of frozen peat (1.5 × 1.5 m) were lifted out of the flattened drilli ... | 2017 | 28391099 |
| functional responses in animal movement explain spatial heterogeneity in animal-habitat relationships. | understanding why heterogeneity exists in animal-habitat spatial relationships is critical for identifying the drivers of animal distributions. functional responses in habitat selection - whereby animals adjust their habitat selection depending on habitat availability - are useful for describing animal-habitat spatial heterogeneity. however, they could be yielded by different movement tactics, involving contrasting interspecific interactions. identifying functional responses in animal movement, ... | 2017 | 28390110 |
| proof of concept: development of snow liquid water content profiler using cs650 reflectometers at caribou, me, usa. | the quantity of liquid water in the snowpack defines its wetness. the temporal evolution of snow wetness's plays a significant role in wet-snow avalanche prediction, meltwater release, and water availability estimations and assessments within a river basin. however, it remains a difficult task and a demanding issue to measure the snowpack's liquid water content (lwc) and its temporal evolution with conventional in situ techniques. we propose an approach based on the use of time-domain reflectome ... | 2017 | 28335574 |
| estimating changes in lichen mat volume through time and related effects on barren ground caribou (rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) movement. | lichens form a critical portion of barren ground caribou (rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) diets, especially during winter months. here, we assess lichen mat volume across five herd ranges in the northwest territories and nunavut, canada, using newly developed composite landsat imagery. the lichen volume estimator (lve) was adapted for use across 700 000 km2 of barren ground caribou habitat annually from 1984-2012. we subsequently assessed how lve changed temporally throughout the time series fo ... | 2017 | 28328953 |
| is transport distance correlated with animal welfare and carcass quality of reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus)? | slaughter reindeer are exposed to stress caused by gathering, handling, loading and unloading, and by conditions in vehicles during transport. these stress factors can lead to compromised welfare and trauma such as bruises or fractures, aspiration of rumen content, and abnormal odour in carcasses, and causing condemnations in meat inspection and lower meat quality. we investigated the statistical association of slaughter transport distance with these indices using meat inspection data from years ... | 2017 | 28298228 |
| effects of environmental features and sport hunting on caribou migration in northwestern alaska. | ungulate movements are influenced by a variety of biotic and abiotic factors, which may affect connectivity between key resource areas and seasonal ranges. in northwestern alaska, one important question regarding human impacts on ungulate movement involves caribou (rangifer tarandus) response to autumn hunting and related aircraft activity. while concerns have been voiced by local hunters about the influence of transporter aircraft and non-local sport hunters, there has been little quantitative ... | 2017 | 28270913 |
| variation in δ15 n and δ13 c values of forages for arctic caribou: effects of location, phenology and simulated digestion. | the use of stable isotopes for dietary estimates of wildlife assumes that there are consistent differences in isotopic ratios among diet items, and that the differences in these ratios between the diet item and the animal tissues (i.e., fractionation) are predictable. however, variation in isotopic ratios and fractionation of δ13 c and δ15 n values among locations, seasons, and forages are poorly described for arctic herbivores especially migratory species such as caribou (rangifer tarandus). | 2017 | 28263443 |
| the impacts of forest management strategies for woodland caribou vary across biogeographic gradients. | loss or alteration of forest ecosystems due to anthropogenic activities has prompted the need for mitigation measures aimed at protecting habitat for forest-dependent wildlife. understanding how wildlife respond to such management efforts is essential for achieving conservation targets. boreal caribou are a species of conservation concern due to the impacts of human induced habitat alteration; however the effects of habitat management activities are poorly understood. we assessed the relationshi ... | 2017 | 28234901 |
| advancing the match-mismatch framework for large herbivores in the arctic: evaluating the evidence for a trophic mismatch in caribou. | climate-induced shifts in plant phenology may adversely affect animals that cannot or do not shift the timing of their reproductive cycle. the realized effect of potential trophic "mismatches" between a consumer and its food varies with the degree to which species rely on dietary income and stored capital. large arctic herbivores rely heavily on maternal capital to reproduce and give birth near the onset of the growing season but are they vulnerable to trophic mismatch? we evaluated the long-ter ... | 2017 | 28231256 |
| refuge or predation risk? alternate ways to perceive hiker disturbance based on maternal state of female caribou. | human presence in natural environments is often a source of stress that is perceived by large ungulates as an increased risk of predation. alternatively, disturbance induced by hikers creates a relatively predator-free space that may serve as a refuge. we measured the behavioral responses of female caribou to disturbance associated with the presence of hikers during summer in the gaspésie national park. we used those data to determine whether caribou responded negatively to human activity (i.e., ... | 2017 | 28168021 |
| many places called home: the adaptive value of seasonal adjustments in range fidelity. | the vast majority of animal species display range fidelity, a space-use behaviour enhancing familiarity with local habitat features. while the fitness benefits of this behaviour have been demonstrated in a variety of taxa, some species or populations rather display infidelity, displacing their home range over time. others, such as many ungulate species, show seasonal adjustments in their range fidelity to accommodate changes in the dominance of limiting factors or in the distribution of resource ... | 2017 | 28146328 |
| environmental and anthropogenic drivers of connectivity patterns: a basis for prioritizing conservation efforts for threatened populations. | ecosystem fragmentation and habitat loss have been the focus of landscape management due to restrictions on contemporary connectivity and dispersal of populations. here, we used an individual approach to determine the drivers of genetic differentiation in caribou of the canadian rockies. we modelled the effects of isolation by distance, landscape resistance and predation risk and evaluated the consequences of individual migratory behaviour (seasonally migratory vs. sedentary) on gene flow in thi ... | 2017 | 28127396 |
| estimating plant abundance using inflated beta distributions: applied learnings from a lichen-caribou ecosystem. | quantifying abundance and distribution of plant species can be difficult because data are often inflated with zero values due to rarity or absence from many ecosystems. terrestrial fruticose lichens (cladonia and cetraria spp.) occupy a narrow ecological niche and have been linked to the diets of declining caribou and reindeer populations (rangifer tarandus) across their global distribution, and conditions related to their abundance and distribution are not well understood. we attempted to measu ... | 2017 | 28116045 |
| fencing large predator-free and competitor-free landscapes for the recovery of woodland caribou in western alberta: an ineffective conservation option. | n/a. | 2016 | 28036042 |
| dispelling the nice or naughty myth: retrospective observational study of santa claus. | to determine which factors influence whether santa claus will visit children in hospital on christmas day. | 2016 | 27974338 |
| what's counted as a reindeer herder? gender and the adaptive capacity of sami reindeer herding communities in sweden. | researchers of adaptive capacity and sustainable livelihoods have frequently used social, cultural, human, economic and institutional capitals to better understand how rural and resource-dependent communities address environmental, social and economic stresses. yet few studies have considered how men and women contribute differently to these capitals to support community resilience overall. our research sought to understand the differential contributions of sami men and women to the adaptive cap ... | 2016 | 27878539 |
| year-end reindeer dreams. | updated several times a week with posts by a wide variety of authors, ajn's blog off the charts allows us to provide more timely-and often more personal-perspectives on professional, policy, and clinical issues. best of the blog will be a regular column to bring ajn readers recent posts that we think deserve a wider audience. to read more, please visit: www.ajnoffthecharts.com. | 2016 | 27875449 |
| sea ice, rain-on-snow and tundra reindeer nomadism in arctic russia. | sea ice loss is accelerating in the barents and kara seas (bks). assessing potential linkages between sea ice retreat/thinning and the region's ancient and unique social-ecological systems is a pressing task. tundra nomadism remains a vitally important livelihood for indigenous nenets and their large reindeer herds. warming summer air temperatures have been linked to more frequent and sustained summer high-pressure systems over west siberia, russia, but not to sea ice retreat. at the same time, ... | 2016 | 27852939 |
| the influence of weather conditions during gestation on life histories in a wild arctic ungulate. | the internal predictive adaptive response (internal par) hypothesis predicts that individuals born in poor conditions should start to reproduce earlier if they are likely to have reduced performance in later life. however, whether this is the case remains unexplored in wild populations. here, we use longitudinal data from a long-term study of svalbard reindeer to examine age-related changes in adult female life-history responses to environmental conditions experienced in utero as indexed by rain ... | 2016 | 27798304 |
| heading for the hills? evaluating spatial distribution of woodland caribou in response to a growing anthropogenic disturbance footprint. | anthropogenic landscape change (i.e., disturbance) is recognized as an important factor in the decline and extirpation of wildlife populations. understanding and monitoring the relationship between wildlife distribution and disturbance is necessary for effective conservation planning. many studies consider disturbance as a covariate explaining wildlife behavior. however, we propose that there are several advantages to considering the spatial relationship between disturbance and wildlife directly ... | 2016 | 27777724 |
| build habitats, not fences, for caribou. | | 2016 | 27708095 |
| loss of connectivity among island-dwelling peary caribou following sea ice decline. | global warming threatens to reduce population connectivity for terrestrial wildlife through significant and rapid changes to sea ice. using genetic fingerprinting, we contrasted extant connectivity in island-dwelling peary caribou in northern canada with continental-migratory caribou. we next examined if sea-ice contractions in the last decades modulated population connectivity and explored the possible impact of future climate change on long-term connectivity among island caribou. we found a st ... | 2016 | 27651531 |
| behavioral timing without clockwork: photoperiod-dependent trade-off between predation hazard and energy balance in an arctic ungulate. | occurrence of 24-h rhythms in species apparently lacking functional molecular clockwork indicates that strong circadian mechanisms are not essential prerequisites of robust timing, and that rhythmical patterns may arise instead as passive responses to periodically changing environmental stimuli. thus, in a new synthesis of grazing in a ruminant (mindy), crepuscular peaks of activity emerge from interactions between internal and external stimuli that influence motivation to feed, and the influenc ... | 2016 | 27634928 |
| toward the restoration of caribou habitat: understanding factors associated with human motorized use of legacy seismic lines. | populations of boreal and southern mountain caribou in alberta, canada, are declining, and the ultimate cause of their decline is believed to be anthropogenic disturbance. linear features are pervasive across the landscape, and of particular importance, seismic lines established in the 1900s (legacy seismic lines) are slow to regenerate. off-highway vehicles are widely used on these seismic lines and can hamper vegetative re-growth because of ongoing physical damage, compaction, and active clear ... | 2016 | 27590308 |
| barren-ground caribou (rangifer tarandus groenlandicus) behaviour after recent fire events; integrating caribou telemetry data with landsat fire detection techniques. | fire regimes are changing throughout the north american boreal forest in complex ways. fire is also a major factor governing access to high-quality forage such as terricholous lichens for barren-ground caribou (rangifer tarandus groenlandicus). additionally, fire alters forest structure which can affect barren-ground caribou's ability to navigate in a landscape. here, we characterize how the size and severity of fires are changing across five barren-ground caribou herd ranges in the northwest te ... | 2017 | 27506958 |
| conservation. to save caribou, alberta wants to fence them in. | | 2016 | 27463649 |
| contrasting effects of summer and winter warming on body mass explain population dynamics in a food-limited arctic herbivore. | the cumulative effects of climate warming on herbivore vital rates and population dynamics are hard to predict, given that the expected effects differ between seasons. in the arctic, warmer summers enhance plant growth which should lead to heavier and more fertile individuals in the autumn. conversely, warm spells in winter with rainfall (rain-on-snow) can cause 'icing', restricting access to forage, resulting in starvation, lower survival and fecundity. as body condition is a 'barometer' of ene ... | 2017 | 27426229 |
| merging and comparing three mitochondrial markers for phylogenetic studies of eurasian reindeer (rangifer tarandus). | phylogenetic analyses provide information that can be useful in the conservation of genetic variation by identifying intraspecific genetic structure. reconstruction of phylogenetic relationships requires the use of markers with the appropriate amount of variation relative to the timeframe and purpose of the study. here, genetic structure and clustering are inferred from comparative analyses of three widely used mitochondrial markers, the cr, cytb and the coi region, merged and separately, using ... | 2016 | 27386080 |
| long-term trends and role of climate in the population dynamics of eurasian reindeer. | temperature is increasing in arctic and sub-arctic regions at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. the frequency and nature of precipitation events are also predicted to change in the future. these changes in climate are expected, together with increasing human pressures, to have significant impacts on arctic and sub-arctic species and ecosystems. due to the key role that reindeer play in those ecosystems, it is essential to understand how climate will affect the region's most importan ... | 2016 | 27362499 |
| mobility at the scale of meters. | when archeologists discuss mobility, we are most often referring to a phenomenon that operates on the scale of kilometers, but much of human mobility, at least if measured in terms of frequency of movement, occurs at much smaller scales, ranging from centimeters to tens of meters. here we refer to the movements we make within the confines of our homes or places of employment. with respect to nomadic peoples, movements at this scale would include movements within campsites. understanding mobility ... | 2016 | 27312186 |
| maintaining animal assemblages through single-species management: the case of threatened caribou in boreal forest. | with the intensification of human activities, preserving animal populations is a contemporary challenge of critical importance. in this context, the umbrella species concept is appealing because preserving a single species should result in the protection of multiple co-occurring species. practitioners, though, face the task of having to find suitable umbrellas to develop single-species management guidelines. in north america, boreal forests must be managed to facilitate the recovery of the threa ... | 2016 | 27209799 |
| rumen and cecum microbiomes in reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus) are changed in response to a lichen diet and may affect enteric methane emissions. | reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus) are large holarctic herbivores whose heterogeneous diet has led to the development of a unique gastrointestinal microbiota, essential for the digestion of arctic flora, which may include a large proportion of lichens during winter. lichens are rich in plant secondary metabolites, which may affect members of the gut microbial consortium, such as the methane-producing methanogenic archaea. little is known about the effect of lichen consumption on the rumen and ... | 2016 | 27159387 |
| caribou, water, and ice - fine-scale movements of a migratory arctic ungulate in the context of climate change. | freshwater lakes and rivers of the northern hemisphere have been freezing increasingly later and thawing increasingly earlier during the last century. with reduced temporal periods during which ice conditions are favourable for locomotion, freshwater bodies could become impediments to the inter-patch movements, dispersion, or migration of terrestrial animals that use ice-covered lakes and rivers to move across their range. studying the fine-scale responses of individuals to broad-scale changes i ... | 2016 | 27099756 |
| modeling caribou movements: seasonal ranges and migration routes of the central arctic herd. | migration is an important component of the life history of many animals, but persistence of large-scale terrestrial migrations is being challenged by environmental changes that fragment habitats and create obstacles to animal movements. in northern alaska, the central arctic herd (cah) of barren-ground caribou (rangifer tarandus granti) is known to migrate over large distances, but the herd's seasonal distributions and migratory movements are not well documented. from 2003-2007, we used gps radi ... | 2016 | 27045587 |
| demographic buffering of life histories? implications of the choice of measurement scale. | life-history theory predicts that the vital rates that influence population growth the most should be buffered against environmental fluctuations due to selection for reduced variation. however, it remains unclear whether populations actually are influenced by such "demographic buffering," because variation in vital rates can be compared on different measurement scales, and there has been little attempt to investigate whether the choice of scale influences the chance of detecting demographic buf ... | 2016 | 27008773 |
| the eastern migratory caribou: the role of genetic introgression in ecotype evolution. | understanding the evolutionary history of contemporary animal groups is essential for conservation and management of endangered species like caribou (rangifer tarandus). in central canada, the ranges of two caribou subspecies (barren-ground/woodland caribou) and two woodland caribou ecotypes (boreal/eastern migratory) overlap. our objectives were to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the eastern migratory ecotype and to assess the potential role of introgression in ecotype evolution. struct ... | 2016 | 26998320 |
| thiafentanil-azaperone-xylazine and carfentanil-xylazine immobilizations of free-ranging caribou (rangifer tarandus granti) in alaska, usa. | carfentanil-xylazine (cx) has been the primary drug combination used for immobilizing free-ranging ungulates in alaska, us since 1986. we investigated the efficacy of a potential new drug of choice, thiafentanil (investigational new animal drug a-3080). captive trials indicated that thiafentanil-azaperone-medetomidine could provide good levels of immobilization. however, field trials conducted in october 2013 on free-ranging caribou ( rangifer tarandus granti) calves showed the combination too p ... | 2016 | 26967141 |
| parasitism of ground beetles (coleoptera: carabidae) by a new species of hairworm (nematomorpha: gordiida) in arctic canada. | the host-parasite associations between ground beetles (coleoptera: carabidae) and hairworms (nematomorpha: gordiida) collected from the arctic (an understudied and ecologically important region) is described. carabids and their parasites were collected from 12 sites spanning the 3 northernmost ecoclimatic zones of canada (north boreal, subarctic, and high arctic) using standardized methods. the beetles and hairworms were identified using traditional morphological approaches. seven beetle species ... | 2016 | 26959639 |
| new insights into the microbiota of the svalbard reindeer rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus. | svalbard reindeer (rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) is a non-migratory subspecies of reindeer inhabiting the high-arctic archipelago of svalbard. in contrast to other rangifer tarandus subspecies, svalbard reindeer graze exclusively on natural sources of food and have no chance of ingestion of any crops. we report the use of a non-invasive method for analysis of fecal microbiome by means of sequencing the 16s rdna extracted from the fecal microbiota of r. tarandus platyrhynchus from a small, iso ... | 2016 | 26941714 |
| "generality of mis-fit"? the real-life difficulty of matching scales in an interconnected world. | a clear understanding of processes at multiple scales and levels is of special significance when conceiving strategies for human-environment interactions. however, understanding and application of the scale concept often differ between administrative-political and ecological disciplines. these mirror major differences in potential solutions whether and how scales can, at all, be made congruent. as a result, opportunities of seeking "goodness-of-fit" between different concepts of governance shoul ... | 2016 | 26939924 |
| hermey wants to be a dentist. | i hope you had a festive and enjoyable holiday season. the american dental association tried to liven up the holidays with a public service campaign to remind us all to be careful when we are indulging in our sugary snacks. they enlisted the services of hermey the elffrom the rudolf the red-nosed reindeer cartoon. | 2016 | 26939414 |
| modeling interdependent animal movement in continuous time. | this article presents a new approach to modeling group animal movement in continuous time. the movement of a group of animals is modeled as a multivariate ornstein uhlenbeck diffusion process in a high-dimensional space. each individual of the group is attracted to a leading point which is generally unobserved, and the movement of the leading point is also an ornstein uhlenbeck process attracted to an unknown attractor. the ornstein uhlenbeck bridge is applied to reconstruct the location of the ... | 2016 | 26812666 |
| on the decline of ground lichen forests in the swedish boreal landscape: implications for reindeer husbandry and sustainable forest management. | lichens are a bottleneck resource for circumpolar populations of reindeer, and as such, for reindeer husbandry as an indigenous sami land-use tradition in northern sweden. this study uses ground lichen data and forest information collected within the swedish national forest inventory since 1953, on the scale of northern sweden. we found a 71 % decline in the area of lichen-abundant forests over the last 60 years. a decline was observed in all regions and age classes and especially coincided with ... | 2016 | 26754169 |
| local and regional variability in snow conditions in northern finland: a reindeer herding perspective. | weather station measurements were used to force the snowpack snow model and combined with reindeer herders' experiences to study the local and regional variations in snow conditions in a finnish reindeer herding area for the 1981-2010 period. winter conditions varied significantly between the four selected herding districts and between open and forest environments within the districts. the highest snow depths and densities, the thicknesses of ground ice, and the lengths of snow cover period were ... | 2016 | 26754168 |
| socio-ecological implications of modifying rotation lengths in forestry. | the rotation length is a key component of even-aged forest management systems. using fennoscandian forestry as a case, we review the socio-ecological implications of modifying rotation lengths relative to current practice by evaluating effects on a range of ecosystem services and on biodiversity conservation. the effects of shortening rotations on provisioning services are expected to be mostly negative to neutral (e.g. production of wood, bilberries, reindeer forage), while those of extending r ... | 2016 | 26744047 |
| quantifying the implications of different land users' priorities in the management of boreal multiple-use forests. | in the management of natural resources, conflicting interests and objectives among different stakeholders often need to be considered. here, we examine how two contrasting management scenarios of boreal forests in northern sweden differ in their consequences on forest structural composition and the economic gains at harvest. management strategies prioritize either (i) forest characteristics that promote grazing resources for reindeer herded by the indigenous sámi, or (ii) timber production as pr ... | 2016 | 26645074 |
| influence of in-situ oil sands development on caribou (rangifer tarandus) movement. | in-situ oil sands development (isd) involves a network of facilities, wells, roads and pipelines to extract and transport subsurface bitumen. this technology is rapidly expanding and there is uncertainty whether isds restrict animal movement, leading to increased extinction probabilities for some wide-ranging species. here we test for effects of simulated future (i.e., 50 years from now) and current isds on simulated movements of woodland caribou (rangifer tarandus), a threatened species across ... | 2015 | 26349062 |
| salvage logging following fires can minimize boreal caribou habitat loss while maintaining forest quotas: an example of compensatory cumulative effects. | protected area networks are the dominant conservation approach that is used worldwide for protecting biodiversity. conservation planning in managed forests, however, presents challenges when endangered species use old-growth forests targeted by the forest industry for timber supply. in many ecosystems, this challenge is further complicated by the occurrence of natural disturbance events that disrupt forest attributes at multiple scales. using spatially explicit landscape simulation experiments, ... | 2015 | 26321533 |
| foraging competition in larger groups overrides harassment avoidance benefits in female reindeer (rangifer tarandus). | male harassment toward females during the breeding season may have a negative effect on their reproductive success by disturbing their foraging activity, thereby inducing somatic costs. accordingly, it is predicted that females will choose mates based on their ability to provide protection or will aggregate into large groups to dilute per capita harassment level. conversely, increasing group size may also lead to a decrease in foraging activity by increasing foraging competition, but this effect ... | 2015 | 26188521 |
| non-invasive determination of the immune physiological state of reindeer (rangifer tarandus) in the greater khingan mountains, china. | immunoglobulin and cortisol levels are good indicators of well-being and living status in animals. in this study, the concentrations of fecal immunoglobulins a ([igaf]), g ([iggf]), and m ([igmf]), and cortisol ([cortisolf]) were examined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in reindeer of the greater khingan mountains of inner mongolia, china. [igaf] was significantly higher than [iggf] and [igmf], and [iggf] was significantly higher than [igmf] (p < 0.05). both [igaf] and [iggf] were higher in ... | 2015 | 26125874 |
| characterizing the distribution of selected pbdes in soil, moss and reindeer dung at ny-ålesund of the arctic. | distribution of 12 selected polybrominated diphenyl ethers (pbdes) was characterized in soil, moss and reindeer dung samples collected simultaneously at ny-ålesund of the arctic. the average pbde concentrations were 42 pg/g (dry weight) in soil, 122 pg/g in moss and 72 pg/g in reindeer dung. significant log/log-linear relationship was observed between the soil/moss quotients (qsm) and the sub-cooled liquid vapor pressures of pbdes (r(2)=0.80). moreover, excellent log/log-linear relationships bet ... | 2015 | 25965290 |
| predicting the continuum between corridors and barriers to animal movements using step selection functions and randomized shortest paths. | the loss, fragmentation and degradation of habitat everywhere on earth prompts increasing attention to identifying landscape features that support animal movement (corridors) or impedes it (barriers). most algorithms used to predict corridors assume that animals move through preferred habitat either optimally (e.g. least cost path) or as random walkers (e.g. current models), but neither extreme is realistic. we propose that corridors and barriers are two sides of the same coin and that animals e ... | 2016 | 25950737 |
| transfer factors and effective half-lives of (134)cs and (137)cs in different environmental sample types obtained from northern finland: case fukushima accident. | the fukushima npp accident caused a small but detectable cesium fallout in northern finland, of the order of 1 bq/m(2). this fallout transferred further to soil, water, flora and fauna. by using modern hpge detector systems traces of (134)cs from the fukushima fallout were observed in various samples of biota. in northern finland different types of environmental samples such as reindeer meat, berries, fish, lichens and wolf were collected during 2011-2013. the observed (134)cs concentrations var ... | 2015 | 25935505 |
| climate change and arctic parasites. | climate is changing rapidly in the arctic. this has important implications for parasites of arctic ungulates, and hence for the welfare of arctic peoples who depend on caribou, reindeer, and muskoxen for food, income, and a focus for cultural activities. in this opinion article we briefly review recent work on the development of predictive models for the impacts of climate change on helminth parasites and other pathogens of arctic wildlife, in the hope that such models may eventually allow proac ... | 2015 | 25900882 |
| importance of open marine waters to the enrichment of total mercury and monomethylmercury in lichens in the canadian high arctic. | caribou, which rely on lichens as forage, are a dietary source of monomethylmercury (mmhg) to many of canada's arctic aboriginal people. however, little is understood about the sources of mmhg to lichens in the high arctic. we quantified mmhg, total mercury (thg) and other chemical parameters (e.g., marine and crustal elements, δ(13)c, δ(15)n, organic carbon, calcium carbonate) in lichen and soil samples collected along transects extending from the coast on bathurst and devon islands, nunavut, t ... | 2015 | 25876438 |
| predicting local and non-local effects of resources on animal space use using a mechanistic step selection model. | predicting space use patterns of animals from their interactions with the environment is fundamental for understanding the effect of habitat changes on ecosystem functioning. recent attempts to address this problem have sought to unify resource selection analysis, where animal space use is derived from available habitat quality, and mechanistic movement models, where detailed movement processes of an animal are used to predict its emergent utilization distribution. such models bias the animal's ... | 2014 | 25834721 |
| [ecological characteristics of preferred habitat of reindeer of daxing'an mountain forest area northeast china in summer]. | in july and august of 2012 and 2013, habitat selection and use patterns of reindeer were studied using both line and strip-transect surveys. twenty-three habitat factors were measured and compared in known reindeer range areas in northwestern china. a total of 72 sampling sites were designated as being used by reindeer, and 162 sites were designated as unused control plots. the results indicated that, compared to the non-used habitat plots, reindeer selected summer habitats with higher values in ... | 2014 | 25757301 |
| reindeer ewenki's fading culture. | | 2015 | 25722402 |
| polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) and polybrominated biphenyl ethers (pbdes) in environmental samples from ny-ålesund and london island, svalbard, the arctic. | polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) and polybrominated biphenyl ethers (pbdes) were determined in environmental samples collected from ny-ålesund and london island, svalbard, the arctic. total pcb concentrations (∑25pcbs) varied from 0.57 to 2.52 ng g(-1) dry weight (dw) in soil, 0.30 to 1.16 ng g(-1) dw in plants and 0.56 to 0.98 ng g(-1) dw in reindeer dung. the non-aroclor congener of cb-11 was predominant in most samples compared to other congeners, accounting for 16.0±9.8% to the ∑25pcbs. the ... | 2015 | 25697952 |
| fallout 137cs in reindeer herders in arctic norway. | reindeer herders in the arctic were among the most heavily exposed populations to the global fallout from nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s, due to high transfer of radionuclides in the lichens-reindeer-human food chain. annual studies of (137)cs in reindeer herders in kautokeino, norway, were initiated in 1965 to monitor radiation doses and follow environmental (137)cs behavior. the (137)cs concentrations declined from the peak in 1965 with effective half-times of 6-8 years, only i ... | 2015 | 25671344 |
| [intramural chronotopography of depolarization of myocardium of heart ventricles of pig (sus scrofa domesticus)]. | sequence of depolarization of myocardium of pig heart ventricles was studied by the method of multichannel synchronous cardioelectrotopography. there is established formation of areas of early depolarization in subendocardium of interventricular septum and in the base of left ventricle papillary muscles; of multiple foci--in the depth of walls; of areas of late depolarization--in subepicardium of the left ventricle dorsolateral side. as compared with other species of ungulate animals (reindeer a ... | 2014 | 25486814 |
| [extinction of large herbivore mammals: niche characteristics of musk ox ovibos moschatus and reindeer rangifer tarandus coexisting in isolation]. | the extinction of large northern herbivores is a puzzle for many biologists. it is long debated whether climate change or human activity was the main factor of the extinction. the survival of the weak trophic competitors should reject the climatic hypothesis. extant species of pleistocene communities allow testing this explicitly. up to date, reindeer and musk ox coexist in the arctic territory. their island populations provide a unique natural experiment to assess the role of competition. on wr ... | 2017 | 25486798 |
| perfluorinated alkyl substances (pfas) in terrestrial environments in greenland and faroe islands. | perfluorinated alkylated substances (pfass) have been measured in liver samples from terrestrial organisms from greenland and the faeroe islands. samples from ptarmigan (west greenland), reindeer (southwest-greenland), muskox (east greenland), and land-locked arctic char from southwest greenland and the faroe islands were analyzed. in addition, pfass levels in land-locked brown trout from faroese lakes are reported. of the 17 pfass analyzed in the samples the following compounds were detected: p ... | 2015 | 25482975 |
| vitamin d status of northern indigenous people of russia leading traditional and "modernized" way of life. | vitamin d status in groups of northern indigenous people of russia leading close to traditional (seminomadic reindeer herding), post-traditional (in settlements) or "modernized" (in towns) way of life was analysed. | 2014 | 25472642 |
| complete mitochondrial genome sequence of aoluguya reindeer (rangifer tarandus). | the complete mitochondria genome of the reindeer, rangifer tarandus, was determined by accurate polymerase chain reaction. the entire genome is 16,357 bp in length and contains 13 protein-coding genes, 2 rrna genes, 22 trna genes and a d-loop region, all of which are arranged in a typical vertebrate manner. the overall base composition of the reindeer's mitochondrial genome is 33.7% of a, 23.1% of c, 30.1% of t and 13.2%of g. a termination associated sequence and several conserved central sequen ... | 2016 | 25469816 |
| distribution and transfer pattern of polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) among the selected environmental media of ny-ålesund, the arctic: as a case study. | polychlorinated biphenyls (pcbs) were analyzed in multi-environmental samples collected from ny-ålesund, the arctic to explore their legacy and transfer patterns. pcbs were ubiquitously in the environmental media, within the ranges of 1.73-6.27 and 9.18-141.1 pg m(-3) in vapor and aerosol, 2.76-10.8, 3.09-8.32, 22.5-56.3, 35.4-51.4 and 31.8-39.6 ng g(-1) (dry weight) in soil, sediment, plant, bird guano and reindeer faeces, respectively. the spatial distribution patterns exhibited a general sout ... | 2014 | 25444625 |
| the relative plasma availabilities of ivermectin in reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus) following subcutaneous and two different oral formulation applications. | overwintering (breeding) reindeer (rangifer tarandus tarandus) are commonly treated with ivermectin against parasitic infestations once yearly in autumn-winter roundups. the only preparations registered to reindeer are those for subcutaneous injection. however, also oral extra-label ivermectin administration is used. twenty-six, 8-month-old reindeer calves were randomly allocated into three groups. group 1 (n = 9) received oral ivermectin mixture (ivomec® vet mixt. 0.8 mg/ml, oral ovine liquid d ... | 2014 | 25421461 |
| population structure over a broad spatial scale driven by nonanthropogenic factors in a wide-ranging migratory mammal, alaskan caribou. | wide-ranging mammals face significant conservation threats, and knowledge of the spatial scale of population structure and its drivers is needed to understand processes that maintain diversity in these species. we analysed dna from 655 alaskan caribou (rangifer tarandus granti) from 20 herds that vary in population size, used 19 microsatellite loci to document genetic diversity and differentiation in alaskan caribou, and examined the extent to which genetic differentiation was associated with hy ... | 2014 | 25403098 |
| ecology. what's killing the reindeer? | | 2014 | 25378600 |
| a polysaccharide utilization locus from an uncultured bacteroidetes phylotype suggests ecological adaptation and substrate versatility. | recent metagenomic analyses have identified uncultured bacteria that are abundant in the rumen of herbivores and that possess putative biomass-converting enzyme systems. here we investigate the saccharolytic capabilities of a polysaccharide utilization locus (pul) that has been reconstructed from an uncultured bacteroidetes phylotype (srm-1) that dominates the rumen microbiome of arctic reindeer. characterization of the three pul-encoded outer membrane glycoside hydrolases was performed using ch ... | 2015 | 25326301 |
| allosuckling in reindeer (rangifer tarandus): milk-theft, mismothering or kin selection? | allosuckling, the suckling of offspring from females other than their own mother, has been reported in a number of mammalian species, including reindeer. the causes and function of this behaviour are still being investigated. we monitored 25 doe-calf pairs of semi-domestic reindeer rangifer tarandus over 10 weeks to test three allosuckling/allonursing hypotheses: (1) milk theft, calves opportunistically allosuckle; (2) mismothering, misdirected maternal care; and (3) kin-selected allonursing. a ... | 2014 | 25183610 |
| how the timing of weather events influences early development in a large mammal. | capturing components of the weather that drive environment-animal interactions is a perennial problem in ecology. identifying biologically significant elements of weather conditions in sensible statistics suitable for analysis of life history variation and population dynamics is central. meteorological variables such as temperature, precipitation, and wind modulate rates of heat loss in animals, but analysis of their effects on endothermic species is complicated by the fact that their influence ... | 2014 | 25163108 |
| transcriptional and epigenetic networks of helper t and innate lymphoid cells. | the discovery of the specification of cd4(+) helper t cells to discrete effector 'lineages' represented a watershed event in conceptualizing mechanisms of host defense and immunoregulation. however, our appreciation for the actual complexity of helper t-cell subsets continues unabated. just as the sami language of scandinavia has 1000 different words for reindeer, immunologists recognize the range of fates available for a cd4(+) t cell is numerous and may be underestimated. added to the crowded ... | 2014 | 25123275 |
| temporally dynamic habitat suitability predicts genetic relatedness among caribou. | landscape heterogeneity plays a central role in shaping ecological and evolutionary processes. while species utilization of the landscape is usually viewed as constant within a year, the spatial distribution of individuals is likely to vary in time in relation to particular seasonal needs. understanding temporal variation in landscape use and genetic connectivity has direct conservation implications. here, we modelled the daily use of the landscape by caribou in quebec and labrador, canada and t ... | 2014 | 25122223 |
| attaining khinem: challenges, coping strategies and resilience among eveny adolescents in northeastern siberia. | this article examines challenges, coping strategies, and resilience among eveny adolescents in northeastern siberia. it explores situations which the study participants associate with challenge and hardship, namely their experiences of transition from life in the family reindeer herding camp to schooling at the age of 7, bullying, boredom, and violence. by situating the data within the eveny framework of resilience (khinem), the study provides the ethnographic context for coping strategies and e ... | 2014 | 25116205 |
| environmental and physiological influences to isotopic ratios of n and protein status in a montane ungulate in winter. | winter severity can influence large herbivore populations through a reduction in maternal proteins available for reproduction. nitrogen (n) isotopes in blood fractions can be used to track the use of body proteins in northern and montane ungulates. we studied 113 adult female caribou for 13 years throughout a series of severe winters that reduced population size and offspring mass. after these severe winters, offspring mass increased but the size of the population remained low. we devised a conc ... | 2014 | 25102057 |
| non-destructive lichen biomass estimation in northwestern alaska: a comparison of methods. | terrestrial lichen biomass is an important indicator of forage availability for caribou in northern regions, and can indicate vegetation shifts due to climate change, air pollution or changes in vascular plant community structure. techniques for estimating lichen biomass have traditionally required destructive harvesting that is painstaking and impractical, so we developed models to estimate biomass from relatively simple cover and height measurements. we measured cover and height of forage lich ... | 2014 | 25079228 |