Caribou, water, and ice – fine-scale movements of a migratory arctic ungulate in the context of climate change

Freshwater lakes and rivers of the Northern Hemisphere have been freezing increasingly later and thawing increasingly earlier during the last century. With reduced temporal periods during which ice conditions are favourable for locomotion, freshwater bodies could become impediments to the inter-patch movements, dispersion, or migration of terrestrial animals that use ice-covered lakes and rivers to move across their range. Studying the fine-scale responses of individuals to broad-scale changes in ice availability and phenology would help to understand how animals react to ongoing climate change, and contribute to the conservation and management of endangered species living in northern environments. Between 2007 and 2014, we equipped 96 migratory caribou Rangifer tarandus caribou from the Rivière-aux-Feuilles herd in northern Québec (Canada) with GPS telemetry collars and studied their space use. We measured contemporary (digital MODIS maps updated every 8 days, 2000–2014) and historical...

近一个世纪以来，北半球的淡水湖泊与河流呈现出结冰期愈发延后、解冻期愈发提前的变化趋势。由于适宜冰面通行的时间窗口有所缩减，淡水水体可能会对依赖覆冰河湖完成跨分布范围移动的陆生动物的斑块间移动、扩散或迁徙造成阻碍。探究个体对冰面可利用性及物候大范围变化的精细响应，有助于理解动物如何应对当前的气候变化，并可为北方生境中的濒危物种保护与管理提供理论支撑。2007年至2014年间，我们为来自加拿大魁北克北部菲耶夫河（Rivière-aux-Feuilles）种群的96头迁徙驯鹿（Rangifer tarandus caribou）佩戴了GPS遥测项圈，并对其空间利用模式展开研究。我们采用了当代数据（2000–2014年间每8天更新一次的中分辨率成像光谱仪（Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer，MODIS）数字地图）与历史数据……