Temperature is increasing in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions at a higher rate than anywhere else in the world. The frequency and nature of precipitation events are also predicted to change in the future. These changes in climate are expected, together with increasing human pressures, to have significant impacts on Arctic and sub-Arctic species and ecosystems.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA clear understanding of processes at multiple scales and levels is of special significance when conceiving strategies for human-environment interactions. However, understanding and application of the scale concept often differ between administrative-political and ecological disciplines. These mirror major differences in potential solutions whether and how scales can, at all, be made congruent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn the management of natural resources, conflicting interests and objectives among different stakeholders often need to be considered. Here, we examine how two contrasting management scenarios of boreal forests in northern Sweden differ in their consequences on forest structural composition and the economic gains at harvest. Management strategies prioritize either (i) forest characteristics that promote grazing resources for reindeer herded by the indigenous Sámi, or (ii) timber production as practiced in Sweden today.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn northern Sweden, the availability of arboreal lichens (Bryoria fuscescens, Alectoria sarmentosa) as winter grazing resources is an important element in reindeer husbandry. With the industrialization of forestry, forests rich in arboreal lichens have diminished considerably. Here, we analyze how forestry has impacted lichen availability from the 1920's to the present day and model its future development assuming different forest management scenarios.
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