Ecologists from the James Hutton Institute, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and Norwegian University of Life Sciences have worked in the high Arctic since 1994, measuring and weighing the reindeer. Each winter they catch, mark and measure 10-month-old calves, returning each year to recapture them and track their size and weight as adults.
Warmer winters, however, mean more rain. The rain falls on snow, where it freezes, thus locking-out the reindeer from the food beneath the snow. As a result, the reindeer starve, aborting their calves or giving birth to much lighter young.
The third factor at play is that over the past 20 years, reindeer numbers have doubled, so greater competition for food in winter could also help explain the shrinking reindeer.
This is scary to read because this is yet another species that is threatened by the effects of a warming climate.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161212084646.htm
Warmer winters, however, mean more rain. The rain falls on snow, where it freezes, thus locking-out the reindeer from the food beneath the snow. As a result, the reindeer starve, aborting their calves or giving birth to much lighter young.
The third factor at play is that over the past 20 years, reindeer numbers have doubled, so greater competition for food in winter could also help explain the shrinking reindeer.
This is scary to read because this is yet another species that is threatened by the effects of a warming climate.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161212084646.htm