![]() “This is something totally new” that has only been seen in the last 20 years, said Cuyler. In Alaska, brown bears are killing musk ox calves. Red foxes are known to compete for the same dens as Arctic foxes and even kill them. Such migrants, the report says, are altering predator-prey interactions in the north. Photograph: Lars Holst Hansen/Aarhus University/Caff The animals are used to the harsh environment of north-east Greenland. View image in fullscreen Musk oxen at Zackenberg research station. Cuyler said several factors are probably driving these declines, including diminished food availability, rain-on-snow eventsand harassing insects, which prevent the ungulates from foraging and gaining enough weight to survive the winter. The Bathurst herd, which ranges from Canada’s Northwest Territories to Nunavut, dropped by 98% between 19. The majority of migratory tundra and forest caribou populations have declined in recent years, with few exceptions. Today, we’re seeing fluctuations beyond known historical levels.” “Caribou populations naturally fluctuate and have cycles of abundance,” explained Christine Cuyler, a consultant for the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources and caribou and musk ox expert on the report. When it comes to caribou, with herds roaming from Russia to Alaska, the climate signal has been harder to separate from the noise. It is estimated that under different climate scenarios, 80% of high-Arctic shorebirds could also lose large parts of their northern breeding grounds in the next 50 years. This, Smith said, is likely to be due to habitat loss in Asia’s Yellow Sea region, where the birds spend their winters. In the east Asian-Australasian Flyway, a migratory pathway linking the high latitudes with the Pacific Ocean, 88% of shorebirds are declining. “On the Arctic tundra, shorebirds are the most diverse group of birds if you’re Inuit, these would be the backyard birds of your environment,” said Paul Allen Smith, a biologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada and a bird expert on the report. Of the 88 species of shorebirds, or waders, examined, 20% experienced declines in all populations, while well over half had at least one population in decline. At Zackenberg research station in north-east Greenland, scientists found that important pollinating flies declined by 80% between 19, hinting at a climate-induced mismatch between the timing of plant flowering and pollinator flight activity. It appears the Arctic is becoming greener and shrubs are gaining ground, slowly replacing mosses and lichens on the tundra. The report drew on decades of circumpolar biodiversity monitoring to give an overview of the changes occurring in the region. Photograph: Stephen Coulson, SLU/via Caff In some parts of the Arctic, important pollinating fly numbers declined by 80% between 19. View image in fullscreen Pollination in Svalbard, Norway.
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