Last week, the following excerpt of an inaccurate (in my opinion) Reuters news story was circulated on ECOLOG-L. See the infobeat link below for the full Reuters report.
The report was derived from a longer Greenpeace news release that drew attention to the potential impacts of global climate change on Arctic wildlife. They used as an example the recent weather-related decline of ONE population of the endangered Peary caribou. At the limits of the species range, the Peary caribou (a sub-species of caribou and reindeer) occupies the Queen Elizabeth Islands (QEI) in the Canadian High Arctic and perhaps northwestern Greenland.
Below I wish to correct some of the misleading statements in the news report:
1. The documented decline occurred on Bathurst and nearby islands and, to the best of my knowledge, did not (occur in) most other populations on the QEI.
2. The recent rapid decline of the Bathurst Island population occurred largely during two winters from 1995-97. A reconnaissance survey by A. Gunn in 1998 indicated good calf production in summer 1998 (i.e., the population is not currently "dying off", although its road to recovery will be long).
3. In 1997, the estimated "population of the Peary caribou in Canada's western Arctic islands" was about 1,000, NOT 75. The Bathurst Island population was estimated at 75.
4. There is insufficient data to conclude whether all populations on the islands have been "steadily falling since 1961".
The Bathurst population did not experience a steady decline. This population had a period of rapid growth from about 300 in 1981 to 3000 in 1994. Inuit in nearby Resolute Bay have suggested that the recent decline should have been expected during hard winters because there had been too many caribou. In my opinion, there is insufficient data to assess whether density-dependent factors played a role in the recent decline.
5. There has been no evidence of a recent decline of Peary caribou on Canada's eastern Arctic islands. In recent winters, Inuit in Grise Fiord on southern Ellesmere Island have seen caribou in areas and on islands where they had not been seen since the 1960s.
6. The total population of Peary caribou on all the QEI is currently unknown. The population on the eastern islands has never been adequately surveyed. That mountainous area makes up about 2/3 of the sub-species range, but densities are probably significantly less than on the western and central islands.
Conclusive connections between the recent decline on the central islands and global climate change is difficult to show. During part of recent climate change, the Bathurst population increased rapidly. Peary caribou on the western and central islands experienced previous declines that have not been well connected to climatic conditions. E.g., the Bathurst population declined from about 2800 to 710 between 1961 and 1972.
Nevertheless, there is ample evidence that some (but not all) severe winters with icing can cause sudden and severe declines of Arctic tundra caribou. E.g., the Bathurst population had previously declined from 710 to about 230 during the single severe winter of 1973-74.
Although we require a much better understanding of Peary caribou population ecology (including possible density-dependent aspects suggested by Inuit), global climate change does not bode well for future recovery if it brings more frequent and more extensive severe snow/ice conditions. The available evidence from Bathurst Island suggests that time for recovery of each Peary caribou population must be measured in decades.
I believe that we all must accept some ownership of the potential problems of climate change, and take precautionary steps. Do we need to wait until governments legislate reduction of greenhouse gases, etc. or do we just start walking, biking, or busing to work, turning down the thermostat, etc.?
Yours sincerely,
Mike Ferguson
Regional Wildlife Biologist
Government of the NWT
Pond Inlet, NT X0A 0S0
Canada
At 08:08 PM 1998-10-20 +0300, GREEKADS.COM wrote: (Reuters) - A rare caribou is dying off in Canada's remote arctic islands, probably due to climate change, environmental group Greenpeace International said on Tuesday. The population of the Peary caribou in Canada's western Arctic islands has plunged to only about 75 animals, the Amsterdam-based organisation said in a report. A deeper snow pack has led to starvation as the animals desperately dig for food, run out of energy and die. http://www.infobeat.com/stories/cgi/story.cgi
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