Date:
November 11, 2015
Source:
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Snowshoe
hares and moose, which are both relative newcomers to Alaska's North Slope, may
have become established in the area with the help of warming temperatures and
thicker vegetation.
A
recent study concludes that climate change gradually led to taller shrubs on
the North Slope, which provides a habitat boost for animals that take advantage
of denser cover.
Ken
Tape, an assistant professor with the University of Alaska Fairbanks Water and
Environmental Research Center, led the research effort. He said hares seem to
be clear beneficiaries of the warming environment -- they hadn't been observed
on the North Slope before 1977 but have found a home there in recent decades.
A
similar pattern may have helped moose, which hadn't been reported in the area
before 1930.
"If
you double or triple the amount of habitat along a river, you might go from having
no snowshoe hares and no moose to having them inhabit that corridor," Tape
said.
Results
from the study were published last week in the journal Global Change Biology.
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