Volkovsky D.V., Fisenko P.V., Zhuravlev Y.N.
В журнале Biology Bulletin
Год: 2020 Том: 47 Номер: 7 Страницы: 782-790
Both Yamal-Belyi and Gydan populations of the wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) are endangered, with no exact reasons for that to be seen. In this puzzle it is very important to analyze the reindeer diet on the Belyi and Shokalsky islands, Arctic Ocean, where the populations are mainly concentrated in summer, especially in order to compare them with greater white-fronted (Anser albifrons) and brent (Branta bernicla) geese that use the same food resources. The herbivores are shown to feed on more than 40 plant species on those islands. The more mobile species using more habitat types show more diverse diets, but both food diversity and food selectivity depend on their morphological and physiological features. Both white fronted goose populations are more abundant than both brent goose ones and continue growing, while the brent goose populations have a stable population trend. This agrees with a broader and less selective diet in the white-fronted goose compared to the brent goose. However, both reindeer populations on the islands, although showing the widest and least selective diet, undergo a sharp decline which is therefore not influenced by food competition. This allows us to suggest just the maintenance of the usual reservation rules on the islands that can provide at least equal initial conditions for all herbivore species for using the limited resources.
