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dc.contributor.authorIms, Rolf Anker
dc.contributor.authorKillengreen, Siw Turid
dc.contributor.authorEhrich, Dorothee
dc.contributor.authorFlagstad, Øystein
dc.contributor.authorHamel, Sandra
dc.contributor.authorHenden, John-André
dc.contributor.authorJensvoll, Ingrid
dc.contributor.authorYoccoz, Nigel Gilles
dc.date.accessioned2018-02-15T08:47:34Z
dc.date.available2018-02-15T08:47:34Z
dc.date.issued2017-08-16
dc.description.abstractThe distribution of traditional breeding dens on the Varanger Peninsula (70–71°N) in northernmost Fennoscandia indicates that this area once harboured a large Arctic fox population. Early 20th century naturalists regarded the coastal tundra of the Fennoscandian Low Arctic to be a stronghold for the species. At the start of our research in 2004, however, the local Arctic fox population was critically small and most neighbouring populations had been extirpated. Here, we synthesize the results of 11 years of research to highlight ecosystem drivers behind the critical state of the Arctic fox in Low-Arctic Fennoscandia. We identify two fundamental drivers: (1) an increasingly climate-driven irregularity of the lemming cycle and (2) a management- and climate-driven increase in the abundance of red fox that is subsidized by more ungulate carrion. Arctic fox reproductive success is low when lemmings are scarce (despite high vole abundance), while red foxes exclude Arctic foxes from high-quality breeding territories in summer and from marine and terrestrial carrion in winter. Red fox culling on Varanger Peninsula may have prevented the extirpation of the Arctic fox population. However, one decade after the onset of this management action the Arctic fox population has failed to increase either because the action has been insufficient or because demographic and environmental stochasticity has precluded a positive response. We discuss options for future research and management of the Arctic fox in the Fennoscandian Low Arctic.en_US
dc.descriptionSource at <a href=http://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1323621>http://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1323621</a>en_US
dc.identifier.citationIms, R.A., Killengreen, S.T., Ehrich, D., Flagstad, Ø., Hamel, S., Henden, JA, ... Yoccoz, N.G. Ecosystem drivers of an Arctic fox population at the western fringe of the Eurasian Arctic. Polar Research. 2017;36(8):1-13en_US
dc.identifier.cristinIDFRIDAID 1499573
dc.identifier.doi10.1080/17518369.2017.1323621
dc.identifier.issn0800-0395
dc.identifier.issn1751-8369
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10037/12177
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherTaylor & Francis Openen_US
dc.relation.journalPolar Research
dc.relation.projectIDMiljødirektoratet: The Arctic fox in Finnmarken_US
dc.relation.projectIDFramsenteret: Climate-ecological Observatory for Arctic Tundraen_US
dc.relation.projectIDNorges forskningsråd: Eco Finn and Arctic Predatorsen_US
dc.rights.accessRightsopenAccessen_US
dc.subjectVDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Økologi: 488en_US
dc.subjectVDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Ecology: 488en_US
dc.subjectVDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Zoology and botany: 480::Zoogeography: 486en_US
dc.subjectVDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Zoologiske og botaniske fag: 480::Zoogeografi: 486en_US
dc.titleEcosystem drivers of an Arctic fox population at the western fringe of the Eurasian Arcticen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.typeTidsskriftartikkelen_US
dc.typePeer revieweden_US


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