Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026

Removal of Exogenous Materials from the Outer Portion of Frozen Cores to Investigate the Ancient Biological Communities Harbored Inside
Published on: July 3, 2016
Climate events synchronize the dynamics of a resident vertebrate community in the high Arctic
Brage B Hansen1, Vidar Grøtan, Ronny Aanes
1Centre for Conservation Biology, Department of Biology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway. brage.b.hansen@ntnu.no
Abstract:
Recently accumulated evidence has documented a climate impact on the demography and dynamics of single species, yet the impact at the community level is poorly understood. Here, we show that in Svalbard in the high Arctic, extreme weather events synchronize population fluctuations across an entire community of resident vertebrate herbivores and cause lagged correlations with the secondary consumer, the arctic fox. This synchronization is mainly driven by heavy rain on snow that encapsulates the vegetation in ice and blocks winter forage availability for herbivores. Thus, indirect and bottom-up climate forcing drives the population dynamics across all overwintering vertebrates. Icing is predicted to become more frequent in the circumpolar Arctic and may therefore strongly affect terrestrial ecosystem characteristics.
Related Concept Videos
Global Climate Change
Threats to Biodiversity
Ecological Disturbance
Microbes and Climate Change
Biological Clocks and Seasonal Responses
Predator-Prey Interactions

