Geochemical landscapes as drivers of wildlife reproductive success: Insights from a high-Arctic ecosystem

Floris M van Beest; Niels Martin Schmidt; Lærke Stewart; Lars H Hansen; Anders Michelsen; Jesper B Mosbacher; Hugo Gilbert; Gaël Le Roux; Sophia V Hansson

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166567

Geochemical landscapes as drivers of wildlife reproductive success: Insights from a high-Arctic ecosystem

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Dec 10:903:166567. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166567. Epub 2023 Aug 25.

Authors

Floris M van Beest¹, Niels Martin Schmidt², Lærke Stewart³, Lars H Hansen², Anders Michelsen⁴, Jesper B Mosbacher⁵, Hugo Gilbert⁶, Gaël Le Roux⁶, Sophia V Hansson⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark; Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Allé 1, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. Electronic address: flbe@ecos.au.dk.
² Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark; Arctic Research Centre, Aarhus University, Ole Worms Allé 1, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark.
³ Department of Natural Sciences and Environmental Health, University of South-Eastern Norway, Gullbringvegen 36, 3800 Bø, Norway.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁵ Norwegian Polar Institute, Framsenteret, 9296 Tromsø, Norway.
⁶ Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (UMR- 5245), CNRS, Université de Toulouse, Avenue de l'Agrobiopole, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France.
⁷ Department of Ecoscience, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde, Denmark; Laboratoire Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement (UMR- 5245), CNRS, Université de Toulouse, Avenue de l'Agrobiopole, 31326 Castanet Tolosan, France.

PMID: 37633375
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166567

Abstract

The bioavailability of essential and non-essential elements in vegetation is expected to influence the performance of free-ranging terrestrial herbivores. However, attempts to relate the use of geochemical landscapes by animal populations directly to reproductive output are currently lacking. Here we measured concentrations of 14 essential and non-essential elements in soil and vegetation samples collected in the Zackenberg valley, northeast Greenland, and linked these to environmental conditions to spatially predict and map geochemical landscapes. We then used long-term (1996-2021) survey data of muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) to quantify annual variation in the relative use of essential and non-essential elements in vegetated sites and their relationship to calf recruitment the following year. Results showed that the relative use of the geochemical landscape by muskoxen varied substantially between years and differed among elements. Selection for vegetated sites with higher levels of the essential elements N, Cu, Se, and Mo was positively linked to annual calf recruitment. In contrast, selection for vegetated sites with higher concentrations of the non-essential elements As and Pb was negatively correlated to annual calf recruitment. Based on the concentrations measured in our study, we found no apparent associations between annual calf recruitment and levels of C, Mn, Co, Zn, Cd, Ba, Hg, and C:N ratio in the vegetation. We conclude that the spatial distribution and access to essential and non-essential elements are important drivers of reproductive output in muskoxen, which may also apply to other wildlife populations. The value of geochemical landscapes to assess habitat-performance relationships is likely to increase under future environmental change.

Keywords: Arctic; Ecogeochemistry; Herbivores; Plant quality; Zoogeochemistry.