Quote:
Originally Posted by kronan123
speaking of kautokeino. has that place really been tundra in the past 50-100 years? saw a documentary yesterday were they said that dwarf birches have taken over there due to global warming and that it made it more difficult for saamis to drive their herds etc. i found it pretty unlikely to be honest.
|
Kautokeino town at 300 m asl is not on the tundra, but in the North boreal /Sparse taiga vegetation zone, with (smallish 2-8 m) trees, birch is dominant.
But Kautokeino municipality is huge and covers a substantial part of the Finnmark Plateau. Maybe 30-40% of this plateau is Low Alpine Tundra due to altitude (tundra above ca 400-550 m asl there).
The problem at this plateau is too many reindeer, so the vegetation is suffering...
Mange rein forandrer Finnmark | forskning.no
Your general point - about lacking knowledge wrt the nature at this part of the world (maybe looking too much at latitude) - is very real. Even among natural scientist!
Earlier this year, research by Swiss and Danish climate researchers claimed that the Atlantic Cod in the future could be able to migrate north from the Lofoten Islands and establish itself as an important species in the Barents Sea due to the warming of the sea water (global warming - published in Nature Climate Change/March 2015)!
Klimaforskere med skivebom på torsken | forskning.no
Well, Atlantic cod has been having one of it's largest stock in the Barents Sea at least since the Viking Age, when we know there were important fisheries of Barents Sea cod coming south to the Lofoten Islands to spawn! (and then retreats to the Barents Sea) It's one of the most famous fisheries in Europe and takes part in the winter months as well as April. Bacalao anyone?
Norwegian researches had to correct this ridiculous claim.
Due to the warming, Atlantic cod is now (today) getting established around the Svalbard Archipelago, even north of Svalbard, pushing away the smaller Arctic cod. They are actually getting Mackerel in the Barents Sea and even near Svalbard now.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
