Impacts of Climate Change on Caribou and Reindeer

Impacts of Climate Change on Caribou and Reindeer

  • Submitted By: john5
  • Date Submitted: 02/02/2009 5:18 PM
  • Category: Social Issues
  • Words: 552
  • Page: 3
  • Views: 542

Impacts of climate change on Caribou and Reindeer:
Caribou and Reindeer are among many of the large plant eater, arctic animals found on land. Climate-related changes are likely to cause cascading impact involving many species of plants and animals. Compared to ecosystems is warmer regions, artic systems have fewer species filling similar roles; thus having an affect on the other species that depend on them – for example, a decline the caribou and reindeer populations will affect both the species that hunt them (affect well-being) and those that scavenge on them. Ice crust formation affects most arctic land animals by encapsulating their food plants in ice, severely limiting forage availability and sometimes killing the plants; this has a big impact on the caribou and reindeer populations especially. Declines in the populations of these animals lead to further declines in the populations of their predators. Both caribou and reindeer are of primary importance to people throughout the Arctic for food, shelter, fuel, tools, and other cultural items. Caribou and reindeer herds depend heavily on the availability of abundant tundra vegetation and good foraging conditions. When there are changes to the arctic tundra due to climate, this will cause vegetation zones to shift, reducing the area of tundra and foraging conditions for these herds. This ultimately results in implications for these herds to find food and raise calves and causes a threat to human nutrition for households.
Impacts of climate change on coastal erosion:
With rising temperatures altering the arctic coastline, much larger changes are suspected to occur as a result of reduced sea ice, thawing permafrost, and sea-level rise. When there is thinner sea ice, this creates more open water, allowing stronger waves generated by winds, and resulting in increasing wave-induced erosion along the arctic shores. Rising sea level is quite likely to flood marshes and coastal plains, increase beach erosion,...

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