Graph of the Day: Global Reindeer Decline
Reindeer and caribou numbers are plummeting around the world. 
By Matt Walker The first global review of their status has found that reindeer and caribou numbers are plummeting around the world. It is increasingly difficult for the deer to survive in a world warmed by climate change and altered by industrial development, say scientists. The iconic deer is vital to indigenous peoples around the circumpolar north. Yet it is increasingly difficult for the deer to survive in a world warmed by climate change and altered by industrial development, say scientists. Reindeer and caribou belong to the same species, Rangifer tarandus. … It has been known for a while that populations of woodland caribou in Canada have declined as human disturbance has increased, caused by logging, oil and gas exploration, and road building, says Liv Vors of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada. But then reports started coming in that the numbers of other herds were also falling. “When we discovered that many herds of reindeer also were declining we decided to compile a comprehensive survey to see if this indeed was a global pattern,” says Vors. Vors and Mark Boyce at the University of Alberta contacted other researchers and scoured the published literature and government databases for all the information they could find about reindeer and caribou numbers. They compiled data on 58 major herds around the Northern Hemisphere. The scientists were shocked to discover that 34 of the herds were declining, while no data existed for 16 more. Only eight herds were increasing in number. Many herds had been declining for a decade or more. “We were surprised at the ubiquity of the decline,” says Vors. “We knew that woodland caribou in North America were in bad shape.” There is also some evidence that populations of migratory caribou in the Canadian Arctic have fluctuated in recent history. But the researchers were surprised at how migratory caribou and reindeer numbers seem to be falling in synchrony across the Northern Hemisphere. … The scale of the problem is shown by a map upon which the researchers plotted their data, which is published in Global Change Biology. “Seeing that sea of red was a sobering moment,” Vors says. “If global climate change and industrial development continue at the current pace, caribou and reindeer populations will continue to decline in abundance,” says Vors. … Unless something is urgently done, all seven sub-species of Rangifer face a bleak future, says Vors. “The concern is that their habitat and the climate are changing too quickly for them to adapt.” …
