#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The number of bison living on Earth can be greatly increased by 2080 if new populations are created in the North, where climatic conditions will be favorable for the settlement of these animals, scientists from St. Petersburg state university and the Vologda scientific center of the Russian academy of sciences believe, the Russian science foundation reported.
About 100 years ago, bison were on the verge of extinction, but preserving and breeding programs helped save this species from extinction. Now the largest number of bison live in Poland, Belarus, Russia and Germany, and the global population of these ungulates is estimated at almost nine thousand individuals. Although the extinction of bison has been prevented, their numbers remain dependent on environmental protection measures.
According to experts, one of the possible solutions to this problem is the artificial transfer of the habitat to more northern territories. Researchers from St. Petersburg state university and the Vologda scientific center of the Russian academy of sciences used computer modeling to assess how comfortable the conditions in the northern regions would be for the bison to settle.
As a result, the researchers obtained maps that showed areas favorable, moderately suitable, and unfavorable for the bison to live. According to them, the bison’s range could expand to most of Norway, Sweden, Finland, and in Russia, all the way to the coasts of the Barents and White seas, RIA Novosti writes.
“As modeling showed, winter precipitation is the main climatic factor limiting the bison’s range. However, at the same time, warming can also have a positive effect due to changes in vegetation and increased productivity of northern ecosystems. Thus, recently there has been a progressive greening of the tundra and a shift in the forest boundary to the north, and such changes contribute to the spread of southern species to the north”, said Igor Popov, head of the project, doctor of biological sciences, senior researcher at the Applied Ecology department of St. Petersburg state university.
According to him, deforestation is another factor contributing to the increase in the number of ungulates, because suitable pastures are formed in the clearings.
Earlier, This Is Taimyr reported that reindeer will help in space exploration.
Follow us on Telegram, VKontakte.
Text: Polina Bardik, Photo: Nikolay Shchipko
