ArcI news

The combined effects of reindeer grazing and climate change on Arctic vegetation are largely unknown, says Risto Virtanen, Senior Curator at the University of Oulu Botanical Museum.

“The tundra is the real Arctic. There are individual plant species that react individually to these change factors. We are interested in what happens at the community level.”

Many migratory waterfowl have evolved to synchronize periods of peak nutrient demand, often breeding, with periods of high resource availability. Climate change is creating phenological mismatches between herbivores and their plant resources throughout the Arctic. UArctic Research Chair, Professor Jeff Welker and his colleagues have discovered that climate‐driven changes in the timing of goose arrival have much greater consequences for coastal sedge vegetation than a similar shift in timing of local spring conditions. While advancing growing seasons and changing arrival times of migratory herbivores can have consequences for herbivores and forage quality, developing mismatches could also influence other traits of plants, such as above‐ and below‐ground biomass and the type of reproduction.  The field study was conducted in western Alaska and published in Journal of Ecology, recently.

The call for applications to Arctic Interactions tenure track programme is closed.