Dynamics and Range Expansion of a Reestablished Muskox Population

Reynolds, Patricia E.

doi:10.2307/3802350

Cited by 54 publications

(67 citation statements)

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“…Such inf luences could substantially alter the C-sequestration potential of arctic vegetation over the long-term because woody shrubs have much greater C-sequestration capacity than do graminoids (34). That these differences were apparently due primarily to herbivory by muskoxen is noteworthy because they are less abundant than caribou at our site, and occur at much lower density here than elsewhere in Greenland (35-37), Canada (38), and Alaska (39).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Opposing plant community responses to warming with and without herbivores

Post

Pedersen

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

432

495

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If controls over primary productivity and plant community composition are mainly environmental, as opposed to biological, then global change may result in large-scale alterations in ecosystem structure and function. This view appears to be favored among investigations of plant biomass and community responses to experimental and observed warming. In far northern and arctic ecosystems, such studies predict increasing dominance of woody shrubs with future warming and emphasize the carbon (C)-sequestration potential and consequent atmospheric feedback potential of such responses. In contrast to previous studies, we incorporated natural herbivory by muskoxen and caribou into a 5-year experimental investigation of arctic plant community response to warming. In accordance with other studies, warming increased total community biomass by promoting growth of deciduous shrubs (dwarf birch and gray willow). However, muskoxen and caribou reduced total community biomass response, and responses of birch and willow, to warming by 19%, 46%, and 11%, respectively. Furthermore, under warming alone, the plant community shifted after 5 years away from graminoid-dominated toward dwarf birch-dominated. In contrast, where herbivores grazed, plant community composition on warmed plots did not differ from that on ambient plots after 5 years. These results highlight the potentially important and overlooked influences of vertebrate herbivores on plant community response to warming and emphasize that conservation and management of large herbivores may be an important component of mitigating ecosystem response to climate change.arctic ͉ climate change ͉ global warming ͉ herbivory ͉ species interactions

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

Opposing plant community responses to warming with and without herbivores

Post

Pedersen

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

432

495

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show abstract

“…Similarly, 36 muskoxen were released into Cape Thompson in 1970, followed by 34 muskoxen in 1977 (Gunn et al 2013). Annual surveys in ENS indicated that the muskox population increased between 1970 and 1995, stabilized at approximately 650-800 animals during 1995-98, then declined rapidly through 2006 (Reynolds 1998a;Lenart 2011). Calf recruitment evidently declined and predation losses increased during the 1990s (Reynolds 1998a;Reynolds et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Annual surveys in ENS indicated that the muskox population increased between 1970 and 1995, stabilized at approximately 650-800 animals during 1995-98, then declined rapidly through 2006 (Reynolds 1998a;Lenart 2011). Calf recruitment evidently declined and predation losses increased during the 1990s (Reynolds 1998a;Reynolds et al 2002). However, to our knowledge, no observed climatic, anthropogenic, or other environmental influences provided a plausible explanation for these changes or the observed population decline.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anti-BrucellaAntibodies in Moose (Alces alces gigas), Muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus), and Plains Bison (Bison bison bison) in Alaska, USA

Nymo

Beckmen

Godfroid

2016

Journal of Wildlife Diseases

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“…These specimens are morphologically similar to those from both Banks Island and Victoria Island (Tables II, III), but they were from introduced hosts with an independent history. Muskoxen at Aklavik were translocated onto the Arctic Coastal Plain from East Greenland (via Fairbanks and then Nunivak Island, Alaska; Reynolds, 1998). Although Teladorsagia is known in Greenland muskoxen, the specific identity of these nematodes remains undetermined, because specimens necessary for morphological and molecular characterization have not been available.…”

Section: Taxonomic Summarymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the mainland near Aklavik, NWT, however, specimens attributable to the third morphotype were discovered in an introduced and expanding population of O. m. wardi. This latter population of muskoxen has a complex history, being derived by sequential translocations from eastern Greenland to Nunivak Island, Alaska (in 1935 from Nunivak Island to Barter Island and the Arctic coastal plain north of the Brooks Range in Alaska (Reynolds, 1998). Subsequent and continuing expansion to the east has resulted in establishment of this population in the Yukon and NWT, Canada, where eventual contact with O. m. moschatus is predicted at the Mackenzie River ecotone (Hoberg et al, 2002).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%