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dc.contributor.authorHoltan, Marijanne
dc.contributor.authorStrand, Olav
dc.contributor.authorKastdalen, Leif
dc.contributor.authorBjerketvedt, Dag Kjartan
dc.contributor.authorOdland, Arvid
dc.contributor.authorPape, Roland
dc.contributor.authorHeggenes, Jan
dc.coverage.spatialSouth Norwayen_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-02-06T14:27:32Z
dc.date.available2024-02-06T14:27:32Z
dc.date.created2023-11-06T12:42:10Z
dc.date.issued2023
dc.identifier.citationPolar Biology. 2023, 46 1321-1334.en_US
dc.identifier.issn0722-4060
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/11250/3116003
dc.description.abstractIn a landscape with patchily distributed forage resources, an animal’s distribution may reflect the distribution of the resources if the population is forage-limited in time or space. This may be particularly explicit in climatically extreme and seasonally variable environments, notably alpine and polar environments during winter. Sustainable management considers the amount of available alpine ground lichen in winter as a predictor of carrying capacity for the last remaining populations of wild European Mountain reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus in alpine environments in South Norway. Ground lichen growth is constrained to elevated, wind-blown, snow-free ridges. However, wild Mountain reindeer also persist in areas providing little lichen resources. Our alternative functional hypothesis is that the critical resource is the amount of snow-free feeding areas during winter, which provide direct access to forage, likely to be energy-profitable regardless of the type of vegetation. We sampled animal-borne videos from wild Mountain reindeer during maximum accumulation of snow in late winter/spring, in three contrasting areas providing variable amounts of ground lichen and alternative vegetation resources. Direct observations of reindeer foraging via videos document an active selection and strong preference for feeding on snow-free patches, regardless of type of vegetation. Active ‘cratering’ in snow was not observed. In contrast, walking behaviours occurred much more frequently across snow-covered areas. Remote sensing data and analyses corroborated these observations. In the sustainable management of wild Mountain reindeer amounts of vegetated snow-free areas is an important functional predictor of winter carrying capacity. Alpine · Winter · Wild reindeer · Video · Snow-free areasen_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.rightsNavngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no*
dc.subjectAlpineen_US
dc.subjectWinteren_US
dc.subjectWild reindeeren_US
dc.subjectVideoen_US
dc.subjectSnow-free areasen_US
dc.titleWild Mountain reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus winter foraging: snow-free areas a key resource for feedingen_US
dc.title.alternativeWild Mountain reindeer Rangifer tarandus tarandus winter foraging: snow-free areas a key resource for feedingen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.description.versionpublishedVersionen_US
dc.rights.holder© 2023 The Authorsen_US
dc.subject.nsiVDP::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480en_US
dc.subject.nsiVDP::Zoology and botany: 480en_US
dc.source.pagenumber1321-1334en_US
dc.source.volume46en_US
dc.source.journalPolar Biologyen_US
dc.identifier.doi10.1007/s00300-023-03204-x
dc.identifier.cristin2192597
dc.relation.projectAndre: Norwegian Wild Reindeer Centreen_US
cristin.ispublishedtrue
cristin.fulltextoriginal
cristin.qualitycode1


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