Predation costs and compensations in reindeer husbandry

Pekkarinen, Antti‐Juhani; Kumpula, Jouko; Tahvonen, Olli

doi:10.2981/wlb.00684

Cited by 9 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…In an earlier study, the objective was identified -by the public authorities themselves -as promoting reindeer herding based on natural pastures (as opposed to feeding) . While this reconnects reindeer herding to landscape conditions, in its present interpretation it fails to include the impacts of other land uses (see below) and ignores that most of the cooperatives are already forced to use supplementary feeding as they no longer have access to natural winter pastures due to habitat loss and fragmentation (Forbes et al 2020;Pekkarinen et al 2020).…”

Section: The Narrative Of Sustainable Reindeer Husbandrymentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Predation has negative effects on herd productivity by changing the age structure of the breeding population, thus reducing calf production, and the opportunities for genetic selection. In the long run, this can compromise the economic sustainability of the livelihood (Pekkarinen et al 2020). The unpredictability of the work has increased, and the feeling of autonomy has decreased.…”

Section: Indirect and Long-term Effects Of Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The compensation systems in all countries aim at minimizing the financial damage caused to reindeer herders, while maintaining viable predator populations (Strand et al 2016;Zabel & Holm-Müller 2008;Pekkarinen et al 2020) but differ considerably between countries.…”

Section: Economic Compensationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these effects are not included in the bioeconomic model used. Pekkarinen et al (2020a) calculated the unit costs and producer meat prices for the 20 northernmost herding districts in Finland for the years 2015-2016, based on data from the Reindeer Herders' Association. They found that the average annual variable management costs were approximately €40 (per reindeer in the winter population) and the slaughter costs were €22 (per slaughtered reindeer).…”

Section: Defining Mountainous Mixed and Forest Herding Districtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change

Horstkotte¹,

Holand²,

Kumpula³

et al. 2022

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This volume offers a holistic understanding of the environmental and societal challenges that affect reindeer husbandry in Fennoscandia today.Reindeer husbandry is a livelihood with a long traditional heritage and cultural importance. Like many other pastoral societies, reindeer herders are confronted with significant challenges. Covering Norway, Sweden and Finland -three countries with many differences and similarities -this volume examines how reindeer husbandry is affected by and responds to global environmental change and resource extraction in boreal and arctic social-ecological systems. Beginning with an historical overview of reindeer husbandry, the volume analyses the realities of the present from different perspectives and disciplines. Genetics, behavioural ecology of reindeer, other forms of land use, pastoralists' norms and knowledge, bio-economy and governance structures all set the stage for the complex internal and externally imposed dynamics within reindeer husbandry. In-depth analyses are devoted to particularly urgent challenges, such as land-use conflicts, climate change and predation, identified as having a high potential to shape the future pathways of the pastoral identity and productivity. These futures, with their risks and opportunities, are explored in the final section, offering a synthesis of the comparative approach between the three countries that runs as a recurring theme through the book. With its richness and depth, this volume contributes significantly to the understanding of the substantial impacts on pastoralist communities in northernmost Europe today, while highlighting viable pathways to maintaining reindeer husbandry for the future. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of both the natural and social sciences who work on natural resource management, global environmental change, pastoralism, ecology, social-ecological systems, rangeland management and Indigenous studies.

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Section: The Narrative Of Sustainable Reindeer Husbandrymentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Indirect and Long-term Effects Of Predatorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Economic Compensationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Defining Mountainous Mixed and Forest Herding Districtsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change

Horstkotte¹,

Holand²,

Kumpula³

et al. 2022

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“…The wolverine is an opportunistic, facultative predator, with its diet in Finland varying from large ungulates to small rodents [ 12 , 13 ]. The wolverine’s distribution in northern Finland overlaps considerably with the reindeer husbandry area, and the high costs of predation in this area has led to conflict between humans and wolverines [ 14 , 15 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diversity of the MHC class II DRB gene in the wolverine (Carnivora: Mustelidae: Gulo gulo) in Finland

et al. 2022

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The wolverine (Gulo gulo) in Finland has undergone significant population declines in the past. Since major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes encode proteins involved in pathogen recognition, the diversity of these genes provides insights into the immunological fitness of regional populations. We sequenced 862 amplicons (242 bp) of MHC class II DRB exon 2 from 32 Finnish wolverines and identified 11 functional alleles and three pseudogenes. A molecular phylogenetic analysis indicated trans-species polymorphism, and PAML and MEME analyses indicated positive selection, suggesting that the Finnish wolverine DRB genes have evolved under balancing and positive selection. In contrast to DRB gene analyses in other species, allele frequencies in the Finnish wolverines clearly indicated the existence of two regional subpopulations, congruent with previous studies based on neutral genetic markers. In the Finnish wolverine, rapid population declines in the past have promoted genetic drift, resulting in a lower genetic diversity of DRB loci, including fewer alleles and positively selected sites, than other mustelid species analyzed previously. Our data suggest that the MHC region in the Finnish wolverine population was likely affected by a recent bottleneck.

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Winter condition variability decreases the economic sustainability of reindeer husbandry

Pekkarinen

Rasmus

Kumpula

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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Wild and semidomesticated reindeer are one of the key species in Arctic and subarctic areas, and their population dynamics are closely tied to winter conditions. Difficult snow conditions have been found to decrease the calving success and survivability of reindeer, but the economic effects of variation in winter conditions on reindeer husbandry have not been studied. In this study, we combine state‐of‐the‐art economic–ecological modeling with the analysis of annual reindeer management reports from Finland. These contain local knowledge of herding communities. We quantify the occurrence probabilities of different types of winters from annual management reports and analyze the effects of this variation in winter conditions on reindeer husbandry using an age‐ and sex‐structured bioeconomic reindeer–lichen model. Our results show that difficult winters decrease the net revenues of reindeer husbandry. However, they also protect lichen pastures from grazing, thereby increasing future net revenues. Nonetheless, our solutions show that the variability of winter conditions overall decrease the net income of herders compared to constant winter conditions. Low lichen biomass appears to make reindeer management more sensitive to the effects of difficult winter conditions. We also found that it is economically sensible to use supplementary feeding during difficult winters, but the net revenues still decrease compared to average winters because of the high feeding costs. Overall, our analysis suggests that the increasing variability of winter conditions due to climate change will decrease net revenues in reindeer husbandry. This decrease will still occur even if the most extreme effects of climate change do not occur. This study shows that combining a state‐of‐the‐art bioeconomic model and practitioner knowledge can bring compatible insights, ideas, results, and a bottom‐up perspective to the discussion.

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Predation costs and compensations in reindeer husbandry

Abstract: BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Cited by 9 publications

References 41 publications

Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change

Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change

Diversity of the MHC class II DRB gene in the wolverine (Carnivora: Mustelidae: Gulo gulo) in Finland

Winter condition variability decreases the economic sustainability of reindeer husbandry

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