Abstract

The quality of wintering habitats, such as depth of snow cover, plays a key role in sustaining population dynamics of Arctic lemmings. However, few studies so far investigated habitat use during the Arctic winter. Here, we used a unique long-term time series to test whether lemmings are associated with topographical and vegetational habitat features for their wintering sites. We examined yearly numbers and distribution of 22 769 winter nests of the collared lemming Dicrostonyx groenlandicus (Traill, 1823) from an ongoing long-term research on Traill Island, Northeast Greenland, collected between 1989 and 2019, and correlated this information with data on dominant vegetation types, elevation, and slope. We found that the number of lemming nests was highest in areas with a high proportion of Dryas heath, but was also correlated with other vegetation types, suggesting some flexibility in resource use of wintering lemmings. Furthermore, lemmings showed a higher use for sloped terrain, probably as it enhances the formation of deep snow drifts, which increases the insulative characteristics of the snowpack and protection from predators. With global warming, prime lemming winter habitats may become scarce through alteration of snow physical properties, potentially resulting in negative consequence for the whole community of terrestrial vertebrates.

Highlights

  • Climate change is impacting the Earth’s ecological and biological systems

  • 2012), we found that both, (1) sites with a greater cover of Dryas heath and greater vegetation cover have a positive effect on nest counts, and (2) the number of lemming winter nests is higher on sites with increased slopes

  • The results of this study highlight the importance of both, vegetation and topographical features as determinants of the spatial distribution of wintering lemming populations

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Summary

Introduction

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Arctic surface temperature has increased twice as fast as the global average over the last 20 years, with alterations in precipitation, snow cover and permafrost temperature (Pörtner et al, 2019). Lemmings play a key role in the High Arctic tundra food web (Batzli et al, 1980). They are yearround residents and have to survive on local primary production throughout the year (Soininen et al, 2015). As a key prey for many terrestrial arctic predators, lemmings impact reproduction and abundance of those, which in turn creates feedbacks on lemming cyclic dynamics Predator-prey interactions are commonly argued to be the cause of the lemming cycles (Fauteux et al, 2016; O. Gilg et al, 2003), the role of the environment in the modulation of such dynamics is only poorly understood (Kausrud et al, 2008)

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