Arctic reindeer numbers could fall by up to 80 percent by 2100 due to climate warming, Australian-led research warned on Thursday, reported Xinhua.
Researchers used fossils, ancient DNA and climate models to track how the Ice Age herbivore, vital to Arctic Indigenous livelihoods, has adapted over the past 21,000 years, according to a statement released by the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Climate change has cut global Arctic reindeer numbers by nearly two-thirds in the past 30 years, said the study detailed in Science Advances, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
"This revealed that populations of reindeer have experienced major declines during periods of rapid climate warming, but the losses expected in the coming decades due to future climate change are likely to be even more severe than those in the past," said the study's lead researcher Elisabetta Canteri from the University of Adelaide and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.
North American caribou could drop by up to 80 percent by 2100 without major emission cuts and increased conservation efforts, said University of Adelaide Associate Professor Damien Fordham, who co-led the research.
Such declines could heighten the vulnerability of reindeer, setting off cascading effects, from reduced tundra plant diversity to the release of stored carbon from Arctic soils, intensifying global warming and further threatening the species and the ecosystems that rely on them, researchers warn.
"For thousands of years, the well-being of our own species has benefited directly from healthy reindeer and caribou populations. Now more than ever, we need to ensure their well-being in turn," said Professor Eric Post, from the University of California Davis in the United States, who contributed to this research.
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
