FRAM FORUM 2017
RESEARCH NOTES
31
Dorothee Ehrich and a colleague trapped a long-tailed skua to band it and equip it with a geolocator, a small device that stores information about the bird’s annual migration. Photo: Evgenia Viguzova
COMPARISON WITH VARANGER If we compare Yamal with Varanger in Finnmark, which has tundra at higher altitudes inland and lacks permafrost, we find some similarities. For instance, many of the same species live in both places. However, there are also differences. The arctic fox is common on Yamal, which – unlike Varanger – offers favourable conditions. Granted, Yamal’s foxes had few pups last summer, but there was also a decline in the number of voles, a common prey for the arctic fox. Yamal essentially lacks the arctic fox’s main rival: the red fox. The arctic fox is well adapted to the harsh Siberian winters and can live off its fat reserves for several weeks. The red fox needs more resources and therefore stays further south. If temperatures should rise, and if the availability of food in the winter were to increase, the red fox population might expand northwards. This would oust the arctic fox, which avoids the red fox. And that is exactly what has happened in Varanger. Earlier research
Scientist Dorothee Ehrich on the tundra of Russia’s Yamal Peninsula. She has come here for fieldwork nine summers in a row. Photo: Aleksandr Sokolov