Ecological consequences of hunting, trapping, and fishing on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago

Vekhov, N. V.

doi:10.1080/10889379909377682

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Additionally, although wolverines have been documented on Baffin Island and the northern islands of Hudson Bay (Southampton, Coats, and Mansel), their presence has not been reported for any islands of the more northerly Foxe Basin (Manning 1943 ; van Zyll de Jong 1975 ; Mallory et al 2001 ; Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada 2014 ). Occasional sightings are reported on several of the High Arctic Russian islands, but only Wrangel Island has a verified reproductive population apparently resulting from recent colonization (Vekhov 1999 ; Kolodeznikov 2013 ; Starova et al 2014 ).…”

Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in the Arctic: Revisiting distribution and identifying research and conservation priorities amid rapid environmental change

Glass

Magoun²,

Robards

et al. 2022

Polar Biol

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Wolverines ( Gulo gulo ) occupy most of the globe’s Arctic tundra. Given the rapidly warming climate and expanding human activity in this biome, understanding wolverine ecology, and therefore the species’ vulnerability to such changes, is increasingly important for developing research priorities and effective management strategies. Here, we review and synthesize knowledge of wolverines in the Arctic using both Western science sources and available Indigenous Knowledge (IK) to improve our understanding of wolverine ecology in the Arctic and better predict the species’ susceptibility to change. To accomplish this, we update the pan-Arctic distribution map of wolverines to account for recent observations and then discuss resulting inference and uncertainties. We use these patterns to contextualize and discuss potential underlying drivers of distribution and population dynamics, drawing upon knowledge of food habits, habitat associations, and harvest, as well as studies of wolverine ecology elsewhere. We then identify four broad areas to prioritize conservation and research efforts: (1) Monitoring trends in population abundance, demographics, and distribution and the drivers thereof, (2) Evaluating and predicting wolverines’ responses to ongoing climate change, particularly the consequences of reduced snow and sea ice, and shifts in prey availability, (3) Understanding wolverines’ response to human development, including the possible impact of wintertime over-snow travel and seismic testing to reproductive denning, as well as vulnerability to hunting and trapping associated with increased human access, and (4) Ensuring that current and future harvest are sustainable. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00300-022-03079-4.

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Section: Distributionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in the Arctic: Revisiting distribution and identifying research and conservation priorities amid rapid environmental change

Glass

Magoun²,

Robards

et al. 2022

Polar Biol

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“…Arctic wildlife was extensively exploited in the seventeenth to twentieth centuries (Vekhov , Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna ). As it became clear that many Arctic species were overharvested, they became protected or put under strict management regimes throughout the twentieth century.…”

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confidence: 99%

A century of conservation: The ongoing recovery of Svalbard reindeer

et al. 2019

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Several caribou and reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) populations have experienced recent population declines, often attributed to anthropogenic stressors such as harvesting, landscape fragmentation, and climate change. Svalbard reindeer (R. t. platyrhynchus), the wild reindeer subspecies endemic to the high‐Arctic Svalbard archipelago, was protected in 1925, after most subpopulations had been eradicated by harvest. Although direct pressure from harvest has ceased, indirect anthropogenic stressors from environmental changes have increased in this climate change hot spot. An assessment of the current distribution and abundance is therefore urgently needed. We combined distance sampling (300 km transects, n = 489 reindeer groups) and total counts (1,350 km2, n = 1,349 groups) to estimate the Svalbard reindeer distribution and abundance across its entire range, which we compared with historical data from the literature and radiocarbon‐dated bones. Reindeer have now recolonized nearly all non‐glaciated land (i.e., areas occupied prior to human presence), and their spatial variation in abundance reflects vegetation productivity. Independent of vegetation productivity, however, recently recolonized areas have lower reindeer densities than areas not subject to past extirpation. This suggests that recovery from past overharvesting is still in progress. These incompletely recovered areas are potential targets for increased monitoring frequency and maintaining strict conservation to follow the Svalbard management goal (i.e., virtually untouched wilderness areas). Because of such ongoing recolonization, possibly combined with vegetation greening effects of recent warming, our status estimate of Svalbard reindeer abundance (22,435 [95% CI = 21,452–23,425]) is more than twice a previous estimate based on opportunistic counts. Thus, although our study demonstrates the successful outcome of strict harvesting control implemented a century ago, current and future population trajectories are likely shaped by climate change. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Wildlife Management Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society.

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Ecological consequences of hunting, trapping, and fishing on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago

Cited by 2 publications

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Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in the Arctic: Revisiting distribution and identifying research and conservation priorities amid rapid environmental change

Wolverines (Gulo gulo) in the Arctic: Revisiting distribution and identifying research and conservation priorities amid rapid environmental change

A century of conservation: The ongoing recovery of Svalbard reindeer

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