Use and abuse of reindeer range

doi:10.3170/2008-12-18481

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Grazing and trampling associated with summer reindeer pastoralism (free‐ranging) has a long tradition on the high mountains (cf. Eriksson et al . 2007).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Post‐Little Ice Age tree line rise and climate warming in the Swedish Scandes: a landscape ecological perspective

2009

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Summary 1.Elevational tree line change in the southern Swedish Scandes was quantified for the period 1915-2007 and for two sub-periods 1915-1975 and 1975-2007. The study focused on Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii , Picea abies and Pinus sylvestris at a large number of sites distributed over an 8000-km 2 area. The basic approach included revisitations of fixed sites (elevational belt transects) and measurements of tree line positions (m a.s.l.) during these three periods. 2. Over the past century, tree lines of all species rose at 95% of the studied localities, with means of 70-90 m. All three species displayed maximum upshifts by about 200 m, which manifests a near-perfect equilibrium with instrumentally recorded air temperature change. This magnitude of response was realized only in particular topographic situations, foremost wind-sheltered and steep concave slopes. Other sites, with more wind-exposed topoclimatic conditions, experienced lesser magnitudes of upshifts. Thus, spatial elevational tree line responses to climate change are markedly heterogeneous and site-dependent. Modelling of the future evolution of the forest-alpine tundra transition has to consider this fact. Even in a hypothetical case of substantial climate warming, tree lines are unlikely to advance on a broad front and a large proportion of the alpine tundra will remain treeless. 3. During the period 1975-2007, the tree lines of Picea and Pinus (in particular) advanced more rapidly than that of Betula towards the alpine region. These species-specific responses could signal a potential trajectory for the evolution of the ecotone in a warmer future. Thereby a situation with some resemblance with the relatively warm and dry early Holocene would emerge. 4. Substantial tree line upshifts over the past two to three decades coincide with air and soil warming during all seasons. This implies that both summer and winter temperatures have to be included in models of climate-driven tree line performance. 5. Synthesis . Maximum tree line rise by 200 m represents a unique trend break in the long-term Holocene tree line regression, which has been driven by average climate cooling for nearly 10 000 years. Tree line positions are well-restored to their pre-Little Ice Age positions. Recent tree line ascent is a truly anomalous event in Holocene vegetation history and possibly unprecedented for seven millennia.

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“…Grazing and trampling associated with summer reindeer pastoralism (free‐ranging) has a long tradition on the high mountains (cf. Eriksson et al . 2007).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The intensity appears to have fluctuated modestly around a stable mean over the first 75 years of the past century (Moen & Danell 2003). Thereafter, reindeer density in the study area has remained on a significantly higher level (Öberg 2002; Eriksson et al . 2007).…”

Section: Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Post‐Little Ice Age tree line rise and climate warming in the Swedish Scandes: a landscape ecological perspective

2009

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“…Voles preferentially feed on Vaccinium myrtillus and V. uliginosum during winter and will feed on other less preferred dwarf shrubs after they are depleted (Dahlgren et al, 2007; Hambäck & Ekerholm, 1997). Additionally, V. uliginosum , S. herbacea , and A. alpina are among the more palatable species preferred by browsing herbivores (Christie et al, 2015; Eriksson et al, 2007; Vowles et al, 2017; Vowles & Björk, 2019). Thus, it is possible that the decreases in the cover of the deciduous prostrate dwarf shrub species V. uliginosum , S. herbacea , and A. alpina observed in 2008 resulted from the combined effects of the peak in rodent population and increased reindeer herd size.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetation change on mountaintops in northern Sweden: Stable vascular‐plant but reordering of lichen and bryophyte communities

Hagenberg

Vanneste

Opedal

et al. 2022

Ecological Research

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Alpine ecosystems harbor remarkably diverse and distinct plant communities that are characteristically limited to harsh, and cold climatic conditions. As a result of thermal limitation to species occurrence, mountainous ecosystems are considered to be particularly sensitive to climate change. Our understanding of the impact of climate change is mainly based on vascular plants however, whereas cryptogams (i.e., lichens and bryophytes) are generally neglected or simply considered as one functional group. Here we aimed to improve our understanding of the drivers underlying temporal changes in vegetation of alpine ecosystems. To this end, we repeatedly surveyed the vegetation on four mountain summits along an elevational gradient in northern Sweden spanning a 19‐year period. Our results show that the vascular plant communities remained relatively stable throughout the study period, despite fluctuations in terms of ground cover and species richness of shrubs and graminoids. In contrast, both lichens and bryophytes substantially decreased in cover and diversity, leading to alterations in community composition that were unrelated to vascular plant cover. Thermophilization of the vascular plant community was found only on the two intermediate summits. Our findings are only partially consistent with (long‐term) climate‐change impacts, and we argue that local non‐climatic drivers such as herbivory might offset vegetation responses to warming. Hence, we underline the importance of considering local non‐climatic drivers when evaluating temporal vegetation change in biologically complex systems.

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“…The model output was also evaluated against ground-based data for biomass (trees and shrubs) and vegetation coverage (field layer) using data collected in 2011-2012 from four long-term exclosure experiments in Pulsuvuoma, Ritsem, Långfjället and Fulufjället (for Ritsem only field-layer coverage), all established in 1995 (Fig. 1a) (Eriksson et al, 2007;Vowles et al, 2017). At each site and for each vegetation type (birch forest or shrub heath) there were three fenced exclosure plots and three ambient plots of a 25 × 25 m dimension.…”

Section: Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Kilometre-scale simulations over Fennoscandia reveal a large loss of tundra due to climate warming

Lagergren,

Björk,

Andersson

et al. 2024

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. The Fennoscandian boreal and mountain regions harbour a wide range of vegetation types, from boreal forest to high alpine tundra and barren soils. The area is facing a rise in air temperature above the global average and changes in temperature and precipitation patterns. This is expected to alter the Fennoscandian vegetation composition and change the conditions for areal land use such as forestry, tourism and reindeer husbandry. In this study we used a unique high-resolution (3 km) climate scenario with considerable warming resulting from strongly increasing carbon dioxide emissions to investigate how climate change can alter the vegetation composition, biodiversity and availability of suitable reindeer forage. Using a dynamical vegetation model, including a new implementation of potential reindeer grazing, resulted in simulated vegetation maps of unprecedented high resolution for such a long time period and spatial extent. The results were evaluated at the local scale using vegetation inventories and for the whole area against satellite-based vegetation maps. A deeper analysis of vegetation shifts related to statistics of threatened species was performed in six “hotspot” areas containing records of rare and threatened species. In this high-emission scenario, the simulations show dramatic shifts in the vegetation composition, accelerating at the end of the century. Alarmingly, the results suggest the southern mountain alpine region in Sweden will be completely covered by forests at the end of the 21st century, making preservation of many rare and threatened species impossible. In the northern alpine regions, most vegetation types will persist but shift to higher elevations with reduced areal extent, endangering vulnerable species. Simulated potential for reindeer grazing indicates latitudinal differences, with higher potential in the south in the current climate. In the future these differences will diminish, as the potentials will increase in the north, especially for the summer grazing grounds. These combined results suggest significant shifts in vegetation composition over the present century for this scenario, with large implications for nature conservation, reindeer husbandry and forestry.

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Use and abuse of reindeer range

Cited by 6 publications

References 67 publications

Post‐Little Ice Age tree line rise and climate warming in the Swedish Scandes: a landscape ecological perspective

Post‐Little Ice Age tree line rise and climate warming in the Swedish Scandes: a landscape ecological perspective

Vegetation change on mountaintops in northern Sweden: Stable vascular‐plant but reordering of lichen and bryophyte communities

Kilometre-scale simulations over Fennoscandia reveal a large loss of tundra due to climate warming

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