Despite recent changes to the growing season for plants in the Arctic, Alaska, caribou appear to have remained in sync with these changes over the last 30 years.
Despite recent changes to the growing season for plants in the Arctic, Alaska, caribou appear to have remained in sync with these changes over the last 30 years.
According to a recent study, Alaska caribou do not appear to be facing what is known as a mismatch, created when caribou migrate and give birth to calves at similar timeframes each year, while a warming climate has changed the peak availability of their food to earlier and earlier times of the year.
“We observed long-term changes in temperatures, timing, and the length of the growing seasons, but found little support for a mismatch between caribou and the plants they consume,” said Dave Gustine, lead author of the USGS study, but now working with the National Park Service.
Continue reading at United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Photo via United States Geological Survey (USGS).
