Christmas symbol, reindeer suffer from global warming and population halves in the Arctic A new report on the impact of climate change on the region has revealed that the number of animals has increased from nearly 5 million to about 2 million in the Arctic.

The population of reindeer and wild caribou has been reduced by more than half in the Arctic. 1 million in the last two decades. The report was released at a meeting of the American Geophysical Research Union, a Washington-based nonprofit organization focused on organizing and disseminating information.

According to the document, climate patterns and vegetation changes make the Arctic tundra – the coldest biome of the Earth – less inviting for the species.

Animals

Reindeer and caribou belong to the same species but belong to different subspecies. The reindeer are a little smaller and, even though there are still wild populations, they have already been domesticated, unlike caribou.

According to scientists who monitor the number, in the Canadian part of Alaska, the total number of heads in some herds. "

Howard Epstein, a scientist at the University of California at Berkeley, is the author of" "We find that drought has increased in some areas and warming has intensified, a- he said, "We are seeing that drought has increased in some areas and that warming itself is causing a change in vegetation."

Lichen – or Lichenized Mushroom – Than Caribou grows in

"With hot weather, it loses space for higher growing plants that grow and eventually eliminate competitors," said the researcher at BBC News.

Feeding problems are not, however,

"It's hot and without much wind, insects have witnessed a lot of suffering and insecurity."

They are also affected, for example, by the number of insects that have increased with warming of the area. carcases waste a lot of energy, whether they try to extract them from the body or to search for a place to hide. "

Rain is also a big problem: Increased precipitation in the Arctic, often on snowy ground, results in the formation of hard ice patches that eventually cover the pasture – and prevent animals from falling into the water. to reach the natural foods.

What can be done to solve this problem?

One of the world's means would be to reduce carbon dioxide emissions – a gas that contributes to global warming – and to limit the increase of temperature.

But scientists say the world's freezer door "and heat could enter;

This research and others in the region aim to understand the effects of climate change and how to adapt to climate change. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is in its thirteenth year, and Arctic Research Program Leader Emily Osborne said the region is currently in "territory". unknown".

"In all the years of publication of the newsletter, we find that the warming persists and continues to worsen," she said. "And that contributes to extreme weather events in other parts of the world".

OTHER IMPACTS

The report did not focus solely on the impact of global warming on reindeer and caribou. See Other Alerts:

• Pollution by Plastics: Small-scale microplast contamination in the Arctic is developing, posing a threat to seabirds and life which may ingest this type of waste.

• Air temperature: In the last five years (2014-2018), temperatures have exceeded all records since 1900.

• Impact on the ice: In 2018, the Arctic sea ice remained younger, thinner and covered less territory than in the past.

• Weed: The warming conditions of the Arctic Ocean coincide with an expansion of proliferation. seaweed in the ocean, a threat to food sources.

Scientists also revealed that East Antarctic glaciers were beginning to "wake up" and react to warming. This is evidence of unprecedented changes due to climatic factors at the top and bottom of the planet.