Due to warmer winters, the amount of rain has increased instead of the amount of snowfall. This has resulted in the freezing of water on the groud, meaning that many substances below this ice are frozen over and inaccessable. This has negatively impacted the reindeer population because the staple foods that they rely on for survival have been frozen over, leading to thier starvation. Ecologists from the James Hutton Institute, Norwegian Institute for Nature Research and Norwegian University of Life Sciences have worked in the high Arctic since 1994, measuring and weighing the reindeer. The survey shows that over 16 years, the adult reindeers' weight declined by 12% -- from 55kg for those born in 1994 to just over 48kg for those born in 2010.
This is important because it shows the impacts of climate change on species and their eventual path to extinction. If humans do not take action to reduce climate change, instead of leading Santa's sleigh, reindeer will be left starving and endangered. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161212084646.htm
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November 2016
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