During the last century, moose have taken advantage of increasing shrubs in the tundra and expanded their northern range into Arctic Alaska. As the Arctic warms up, shrub patches along rivers are aggregating and coalescing to form larger and more connected patches, creating more moose habitat. Models predict that moose habitat will likely more than double by 2099 in Arctic Alaska. Current research focuses on how this expected increase in moose habitat will affect future opportunities for moose hunting in remote communities of the region.
Reference: Zhou, J., Tape, K.D., Prugh, L., Kofinas, G., Carroll, G., Kielland, K. (2020) Enhanced shrub growth in the Arctic increases habitat connectivity for browsing herbivores. Global Change Biology
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.15104
Picture: Shrub expansion enhances habitat connectivity for browsing herbivores like moose, Alces alces (Photo: Ken Tape, University of Alaska Fairbanks)