Santa reindeers with a climate cause

London: Reindeers, best known for pulling Santa’s sleigh on Christmas Eve, may have a significant part to play in slowing down climate change, a new study has found. Researchers found that when reindeer reduce the height and abundance of shrubs on the Arctic tundra through grazing, the level of surface albedo — the amount of solar energy reflected by the Earth back into space — is increased.

“Our theory was that heavy grazing by reindeer increases summer albedo through a reduction in shrub height, abundance and leaf area index (LAI),” said Mariska te Beest, from Umea University in Sweden.

“The effect reindeer grazing can have on albedo and energy balances is potentially large enough to be regionally important,” said Ms te Beest. “It also points towards herbivore management being a possible tool to combat future warming. Most of the arctic tundra is grazed by either domesticated or wild reindeer, so this is an important finding.” “Of course, the impact the reindeer have will vary according to their densities and the subsequent effects on the vegetation levels across the whole tundra,” she said.

The study combined land surface computer modelling with measurements of albedo and vegetation characteristics taken in the field. The  field measurements were taken in an area in Norway. “We found that high densities of reindeer changed arctic tundra vegetation by decreasing shrub abundance,” said Ms te Beest.