Global Warming Linked to Caribou-Calf MortalityMay 2nd, 2008 in
Biology / Fewer caribou calves are being born and more of them
are dying in West Greenland as a result of a warming climate.
Credit: Eric Post, Penn State Fewer caribou calves are being
born and more of them are dying in West Greenland as a result of
a warming climate, according to Eric Post, a Penn State
associate professor of biology. Post, who believes that caribou
may serve as an indicator species for climate changes including
global warming, based his conclusions on data showing that the
timing of peak food availability no longer corresponds to the
timing of caribou births. The study, which was conducted in
collaboration with Mads Forchhammer at the University of Aarhus
in Denmark, will be published in the 12 July 2008 issue of the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London.
Caribou -- which are closely related to wild reindeer -- are
dependent on plants for all their energy and nutrients.
Throughout the long Arctic winter, wh