On Moose and Climate

Found an interesting article in the Homer News re the effects of the long hard winter on moose and fish, echoing some of my earlier concerns about the lack of vegetation. Quoting from the Homer News:

An area biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game said he won’t be surprised if population surveys of moose show decreased survivability among the ungulates, especially among cows and calves.

“Before green-up, many (cows) were on the brink of starvation. We had several cases of moose dying in May and into June right here in town,” said Thomas McDonough, research biologist and moose expert with the Homer
office of Fish and Game.

Normally, newborns arrive more or less coincident with green-up, allowing near-starving cows to replenish depleted stores of energy necessary for their own survival and making it possible to lactate effectively. 

“Without having that occur at the normal time, there’s more stress for cows, and that’s often transferred to calves,” McDonough said. While newborns continue nursing for months, they begin consuming browse within days of birth. Thus green-up also provides calves with plentiful food.

Moose typically mate and conceive during the last few days of September and the first week of October, and give birth in late May and early June.

“The calving peak down here (on the Southern Peninsula) is the third week in May,” McDonough said.

Temperatures in May were often still in the 30s (degrees Fahrenheit), and at higher elevations, snow continued to fall off and on throughout the remainder of the month. Under such taxing environmental conditions, cow moose physiology can cause mothers in poor condition to delay calving by a few days, but not much longer, McDonough noted. But green-up came well after most mothers were due. Thus, many calves were likely born weeks before easily accessible browse became available, he said.

 “We are trying to assess the effect on the young,” McDonough said. “Even in a healthy population, moose calf survival is pretty low. Half will be dead in the first five or six weeks.”

Also, King Salmon returns are running late with local rivers too cold and too high for the fish to swim upstream to spawn.

Climate disruptions appear to be changing all the rules. Today Obama announces his plan to address climate change. We shall see how that goes. My expectations aren't high.