Svalbard reindeer winter diets: Long-term dietary shifts to graminoids in response to a changing climate.

ABSTRACT: 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 δ¹³ C and δ¹⁵ 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 tem

SUBMITTER: Hiltunen TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9826046 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature