The Ecological Role and Geography of Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) in Northern Eurasia

Abstract

The reindeer is a ruminant of the family Cervidae with a circumpolar distribution that has been a key component of Eurasian high latitude ecosystems for at least 2 million years. Interactions with humans date from the late Pleistocene onward and wild and semi‐domestic animals continue to be highly valued by aboriginal and non‐native peoples for a diversity of purposes. As a widespread and dominant ungulate across many tundra and taiga regions, the reindeer exerts a number of important controls on ecosystem structure and function. Animals, both free‐ranging and herded, move seasonally between summer, winter and transitional spring/autumn habitats or ‘pastures’. Their effects on vegetation and soils vary greatly in space and time depending on factors such as altitude/exposure, snow depth, substrate, moisture, prevailing vegetation type and, most importantly, animal density. At present, the number of Old World reindeer is somewhat less than 2.5 million. The most productive semi‐domestic herds occur in Fennoscandia and the Nenets regions of northwest Russia straddling the Ural Mountains. Management systems differ within and among countries and regions. Given the diverse suite of factors involved, changes in vegetation associated with grazing and trampling can be remarkably heterogeneous spatially yet remain to a large extent predictable. Potential threats facing reindeer populations of Eurasia include rapid land use change, climate change and ongoing institutional conflicts.

Linking visitor motivation with attitude towards management restrictions on use in a national park

“…Many of the alpine national parks in southern Norway hold the last remaining populations of wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Europe, and recreational use can affect their distribution, population dynamics and general conditions in several ways (Vistnes et al 2004, Vistnes & Nellemann 2008, Reimers & Colman 2009, Forbes & Kumpula 2009. Recently these reindeer have received considerable national and international attention (e.g.…”

Arctic Tundra Vegetation Dynamics under Changing Environmental Conditions

“…Grazing patterns are quite heterogeneous and have been observed and modeled in various rangelands (Pickup and Chewings 1988;. For managed reindeer herds on the Yamal, grazing is most intense near migratory Nenets camps and dissipates outward from the camps (Forbes and Kumpula 2009). We conducted a comparison study of grazing and soil effects across sites in different bioclimate subzones within a model simulation.…”

“…Each of the three field locations had two or three separate sampling grids to capture the variability of soil properties. The soil organic nitrogen data are used to drive the simulations in ArcVeg ( (Golovnev and Osherenko 1999;Baskin 2000), and the drivers are quite complex as noted in Forbes and Kumpula (2009). Grazing patterns are quite heterogeneous and have been observed and modeled in various rangelands (Pickup and Chewings 1988;.…”

“…The Yamal is not only the source of much of Europe's current and future energy resources, and as a result is of enormous strategic importance to Russia, but it is also the world's largest area of reindeer husbandry Forbes and Kumpula 2009). …”

“…The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) is a ruminant of the family Cervidae, which is distributed circumpolarly and has long been a key component of high latitude ecosystems (Forbes and Kumpula 2009). …”