{"id":64164,"date":"2021-10-12T12:08:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-12T19:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=64164"},"modified":"2021-10-12T12:08:24","modified_gmt":"2021-10-12T19:08:24","slug":"berner-caribou-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/berner-caribou-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists partner\u00a0with Indigenous\u00a0communities\u00a0to\u00a0study effects of climate change and human development on Arctic caribou\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wild caribou\u00a0are the single most important\u00a0land-based\u00a0species for both\u00a0human communities and ecosystems\u00a0in the Arctic.\u00a0Abundant across the polar region, these animals play an essential role both as herbivores\u00a0that impact\u00a0tundra vegetation\u00a0and as\u00a0an important\u00a0source of\u00a0food\u00a0to Indigenous hunters. In many cultures,\u00a0caribou\u00a0also\u00a0have incalculable spiritual value.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Caribou herds\u00a0of North America,\u00a0which collectively\u00a0include\u00a0more than one million animals\u00a0in Canada and another\u00a0750,000\u00a0in Alaska,\u00a0represent the largest terrestrial\u00a0mammal\u00a0migrations\u00a0on Earth,\u00a0traveling thousands of kilometers\u00a0from the northern edges of the boreal forests\u00a0to\u00a0the Arctic barrens of the coastal tundra. However, most herds have been in decline in recent years because of\u00a0the consequences of\u00a0climate change\u00a0and increased human development.\u00a0Scientists believe that caribou have declined by about 56 percent in North America\u00a0in\u00a0the last 20 years, largely due to habitat loss and degradation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the importance of\u00a0caribou\u00a0in the region\u00a0and\u00a0the\u00a0intense\u00a0research efforts\u00a0devoted to them,\u00a0measuring the\u00a0effects of accelerating oil and gas exploration, pipelines, mining operations, Arctic seaports and associated road construction\u00a0across the region\u2019s vast population of animals\u00a0is challenging\u00a0because most studies are specific to one or two caribou populations, and results are difficult to generalize.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Assistant research professor\u00a0<\/span>Logan Berner<\/span><\/b>\u00a0of\u00a0Northern Arizona University\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS)<\/span><\/a>\u00a0was recently awarded $718,000 by the National Science Foundation\u00a0for\u00a0\u201cFate of the Caribou: from local knowledge to range\u2010wide dynamics in the changing Arctic,\u201d\u00a0a three-year\u00a0study\u00a0of\u00a0how\u00a0increased human development affects\u00a0caribou herds\u00a0against the backdrop of a dynamic and changing physical environment.\u00a0The project was funded through the NSF\u2019s Navigating the New Arctic program, one of 10 \u201cBig Ideas\u201d unveiled in 2016 and presented as bold, long-term research and process ideas that identify areas for future investment at the frontiers of science and engineering. The Big Ideas represent unique opportunities to position the U.S. at the cutting edge of\u00a0global science and engineering leadership by bringing together diverse disciplinary perspectives to support convergence research.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By partnering with Indigenous conservation managers and\u00a0agencies in Alaska and northern Canada that monitor caribou populations, Berner hopes to contribute\u00a0in several important ways to the science of\u00a0the changing Arctic through the lens of caribou ecology, land-use change and impacts on\u00a0local\u00a0communities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur interdisciplinary research team will collaborate with members of local Indigenous and rural communities to conduct large-scale ecological analyses across multiple caribou herds in North America using novel ecological modeling,\u00a0decades of satellite observations, and extensive field data,\u201d\u00a0he said.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Along with\u00a0Regents\u2019 professor\u00a0<\/span>Scott Goetz<\/span><\/b>, a\u00a0co-principal investigator, the\u00a0research\u00a0team\u00a0consists of ecological modelers, Earth scientists, remote sensing and computing experts and caribou\u00a0biologists with strong links to the Indigenous\u00a0agencies\u00a0that manage\u00a0and conserve\u00a0the caribou\u00a0herds.\u00a0In addition to NAU researchers, the team includes\u00a0<\/span>Elie\u00a0Gurarie\u00a0of the State University of New York, William Fagan and Anne Gunn of the University of Maryland and Mark\u00a0Hebblewhite\u00a0of Montana State University,\u00a0supported by NSF\u00a0grants totaling\u00a0nearly\u00a0$2.2\u00a0million.\u00a0There are also\u00a0several\u00a0unfunded collaborators from groups including the\u00a0Wek\u2019\u00e8ezh\u00ec\u0131\u00a0Renewable Resources Board, the U.S. National Park Service and Environment Yukon.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an exciting project because it brings together people I\u2019ve been working with for some time, but it\u2019s the first time we\u2019re unifying the various components that each of our groups contribute to the broader effort,\u201d Goetz said.\u00a0\u201cNSF\u2019s Navigating the New Arctic program was big enough to allow each of the groups to have the resources necessary to bring us all together on one big,\u00a0coordinated\u00a0project.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In its research description, the team wrote:\u00a0\u201cOur research\u00a0will help\u00a0advance\u00a0understanding and management of caribou\u00a0as we partner with the\u00a0Indigenous-led caribou\u00a0and\u00a0natural resource management boards that are central to Arctic governance. We will work with them to produce\u00a0actionable science\u00a0that can\u00a0inform\u00a0the\u00a0policies\u00a0and co-management\u00a0of caribou herds stretching from Hudson\u2019s Bay to western Alaska.\u00a0By studying multiple populations across a near-continental\u00a0level\u00a0under a\u00a0unified analytical framework,\u00a0and by developing field, remote sensing and community-derived environmental datasets, we will be able to identify both general principles and herd-specific\u00a0processes that\u00a0influence\u00a0the dynamics and distribution of caribou populations.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Training the\u00a0next generation of Arctic scientists<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

The project\u00a0is designed to\u00a0help train the next generation of Arctic scientists by supporting three\u00a0postdoctoral researchers, two Ph.D.\u00a0students and undergraduate technicians in fields including\u00a0wildlife ecology, environmental informatics, natural resource management and social science.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ph.D.\u00a0student\u00a0<\/span>Katie<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>Orndahl<\/span><\/b>, who studies with Berner and Goetz in\u00a0NAU\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Global Earth Observation and Dynamics of Ecosystems (GEODE)\u00a0lab<\/span><\/a>,\u00a0is part of the research team.\u00a0During the summers of 2018 and 2019,\u00a0Orndahl\u00a0led\u00a0a small team that conducted research at 60 sites along the Alaskan\u00a0Canadian border, across interior Alaska, central Yukon and the Yukon North Slope,\u00a0linking field data with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to scale up to satellite imagery.\u00a0She\u00a0is familiar with the\u00a0Alaska tundra environment from her work prior to joining the GEODE lab.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The research team will build on data she collected by collecting new field data from a much broader geographic area, including the Western Arctic Herd range and the Porcupine, Cape Bathurst and Bathurst caribou herd ranges in the Northwest Territories. The team will engage local communities and agency\u00a0collaborators in the field campaigns, which will target 20-25 sites each summer, and expects to assemble field data from approximately 100\u00a0additional\u00a0sites across northern North America.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDuring our work,\u00a0we followed the migratory route of the Porcupine herd across ever-changing landscapes and met many smart and enthusiastic folks along the way,\u201d\u00a0Orndahl\u00a0said.\u00a0\u201cAbove all,\u00a0it was clear just how important caribou are to the Arctic, both ecologically and culturally. The field work we\u2019ve conducted so far would not have been possible without a fantastic group of collaborators, and I\u2019m excited this project will build on what we\u2019ve done so we can better understand and protect the caribou.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Berner, who specializes in ecological and environmental informatics research, is part of Goetz\u2019s\u00a0GEODE\u00a0lab, which uses\u00a0a wide array of\u00a0remote sensing\u00a0methods\u2014from\u00a0UAVs\u00a0to satellite imagery\u2014to study ecosystem structure and function.\u202fThe lab team\u2019s\u00a0work focuses on understanding ecosystem responses to environmental change, and modeling interactions between forests, tundra, climate, land use change, disturbance and biodiversity, exploring\u00a0how vulnerable or resilient ecosystems are in a time of global environmental change.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Berner was also recently awarded a\u00a0$372,581\u00a0grant by NASA for\u00a0a\u00a0three-year project, \u201cMapping plant biomass distribution and change across the rapidly warming Arctic tundra biome.\u201d\u00a0The project\u2019s goal is to advance understanding of the amount, distribution, composition and recent changes in plant aboveground biomass across the rapidly warming Arctic tundra biome using field, satellite and geospatial data.\u00a0This project, along with Goetz\u2019s NASA\u2019s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) projects, will help ensure the success of\u00a0the\u00a0ambitious multi-disciplinary effort\u00a0to understand the fate of caribou\u00a0within the context of\u00a0the\u00a0New Arctic.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wild caribou\u00a0are the single most important\u00a0land-based\u00a0species for both\u00a0human communities and ecosystems\u00a0in the Arctic.\u00a0Abundant across the polar region, these animals play an essential role both as herbivores\u00a0that impact\u00a0tundra vegetation\u00a0and as\u00a0an important\u00a0source of\u00a0food\u00a0to Indigenous hunters. In many cultures,\u00a0caribou\u00a0also\u00a0have incalculable spiritual value.\u00a0\u00a0 Caribou herds\u00a0of North America,\u00a0which collectively\u00a0include\u00a0more than one million animals\u00a0in Canada and another\u00a0750,000\u00a0in Alaska,\u00a0represent the largest terrestrial\u00a0mammal\u00a0migrations\u00a0on…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":64165,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64164","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research-academics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64164","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64164"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64164\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64164"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64164"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64164"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}