Thesis (doctoral)--Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 2006. / Errata sheet inserted. Appendix includes reproductions of papers and manuscripts co-written with other authors. Includes bibliographical references. Issued also electronically via World Wide Web in PDF format; online version lacks appendix of papers.

A field study of growth, body composition and the demography of Svalbard reindeer <i>Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus</i> was carried out between April 1979 and Sept. 1984 in Adventdalen (750 km<SUP>2</SUP>) in Svalbard, 78<SUP>o</SUP>N lat., to determine the potential significance of (i) the food supply and (ii) the weather in determining the rate of increase and abundance of reindeer. The study was based on measuring (i) total numbers, annual rates of birth and mortality and (ii) the total dissectible fat content (TDF) of reindeer shot throughout the year. All reindeer and carcasses were counted on foot once each summer. The disarticulation and disappearance of 78 carcasses was followed for five years. Carcasses usually remained <i>in situ</i>, with at least 50% of bones present, for not less than two years after death. Radio-tracking showed that the reindeer were sedentary and used small (ca. 5 km<SUP>2</SUP>), traditional, seasonal home ranges. The population was stable but not constant: numbers fluctuated betwen 401 and 771 reindeer (2.7-5.5 reindeer per km<SUP>2</SUP> productive ground). There was pronounced variation in annual rates of fecundity (9.0-73.3%), mortality (1.5-25.7% of the population) and dispersal (0-25.1% of the population). The annual rate of increase (<i>r</i>) fluctuated between +43 and -47%. Mortality (of calves and adults) accounted for 46&37 of total annual losses and was a major factor limiting numbers: the principal single cause of variation in <i>r</i>, however, was variation in the annual birth rate. It is suggested that reproductive failure was caused by resorption of foetuses induced by acute starvation. Ninety percent of all natural mortality occurred in the second half of winter; 83% of all deaths were due to starvation. Calves suffered higher mean rates of mortality than both males and females aged ≥1 yr (35.8, 15.8 and 9.3% per annum, respectively). Reindeer were fat in autumn (TDF = 17% total body weight in adult females) and lean in late winter but survival was probably influenced principally by the supply of food in winter rather than the extent of fattening in summer. A model of a reindeer's energy balance showed that despite large autumn reserves of fat and muscle, a non-pregnant, adult female would normally have to meet not less than 75&37 of her daily energy requirements in winter by feeding. Survival also appeared to be influenced by reindeers' ability to process food efficiently; the molariform teeth of reindeer which starved to death were more worn than those of animals of the same age which were shot. Winters with heavy mortality were invariably followed by low rates of calving in spring and neither the birth rate nor the rate of mortality was significantly density-dependent across years. Evidently effects of grazing on plant biomass in winter were overridden by the effects of random variation in the weather. It seems that food shortage in winter can arise in several ways: through low production of forage in summer, through reduced availability of forage due to snow and ice and through increased competition. There was no evidence that weather conditions were exceptional in years when numbers declined. It is suggested that periodic die-offs and subsequent low calving are an integral part of the ecology of Svalbard reindeer. The population may be susceptible to the effects of weather because it has reached equilibrium with the winterfood supply. This contrasts with a previous suggestion that severe winter weather might keep populations of Svalbard reindeer below ecological carrying capacity.

Reindeer (Eangifev tarandus tarandus L.) winter rangeland in the Tuktoy-aktuk Peninsula area, N.W.T., was studied using a ground-truth/large-scale (1:1,400-1:3,400) remote sensing program. Ground-truth of vegetation, soils and general environment was conducted at 112 representative sites located throughout the study area. Two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) of vegetation cover by 420 plant taxa assigned sites among four broadly-defined 'vegetation groups'. The vegetation groups could be considered as ecosystemic units since they are also differentiated by a range of site parameters, including slope position classes, general cover features measured in 10 m x 10 m plots, mineral soil texture classes, the occurrence of organic soils and ice-wedge polygons, and certain soil physical and chemical parameters. Lichens are of particular importance as the winter diet mainstay for the reindeer, and differences among vegetation groups are reflected by dominant lichen taxa, and lichen ground cover, biomass and standing crop estimates. Lichen cover at sites ranged up to 89.3% and, for sites where lichen cover >20%, standing crop ranged from 194.4 to 6,377.6 kg.ha⁻¹. Large-scale colour-infrared (CIR) 70 mm stereo photographs were acquired throughout the study area along 44 flightlines, and a total of 1,469 photo-frames were interpreted and inventoried. Data were summarized according to 7 reindeer management zones defined within the study area. / Forestry, Faculty of / Graduate

Palynological evidence suggests Nordic agriculturalist settlement in the coastal areas of Västerbotten from ~AD 500. Until then these lands had been inhabited by its native inhabitants: the Sámi (semi-nomadic reindeer hunters/herders). Contact started relatively friendly but increasing Nordic colonisation forced Sámi assimilation in Västerbotten by AD 1300, although they maintained their semi-nomadic lifestyle. To exercise more control over the Sámi, winter markets were erected during the 17th century, where the Sámi traded with Nordic settlers, but were also taxed and educated. Little is known about Sámi and Nordic co-existence outside of these market places, mainly due to a lack of archaeological evidence relating to Sámi activity. This thesis presents the results of high-resolution pollen analysis and radiocarbon dating, applied to establish the impact of both Sámi and Nordic land use in the regions surrounding three market towns. The addition of coprophilous fungal spores, microscopic charcoal and sedimentology successfully allowed the reconstruction of vegetation and land-use changes from AD 1-2000. Small-scale human impact in the boreal forests of northern Sweden can be traced if activity was local to the sampling location, a high temporal resolution and robust chronology are achievable: impacts at a Sámi reindeer herding pen are visible in the pollen record, but are most obvious in the coprophilous fungal spore record, making multi-decadal phases of use and abandonment distinguishable. In the Lycksele region coprophilous fungal spores also suggest a possible link to archaeological evidence of Sámi hunter-gatherers. Pollen of natural sea shore meadows in coastal Västerbotten are recorded as late as the Early Medieval Period. Unfortunately it is impossible to separate out an anthropogenic signal due to similar indicator taxa (Artemisia, Rumex-type, Chenopodiaceae and Poaceae). Sámi activity in the winter market areas, if recorded, is inseparable from the signal of 17th century Finnish settlement, characterised by fire clearance.

Abstract The wild forest reindeer is a subspecies of the reindeer. Wild forest reindeer earlier had a wide distribution range in Sweden, but it was extinct in the middle of the 19:th century because of extensive hunting. In Finland, the w.f.reindeer was extinct a few decades later by similar reasons. Later they migrated back to the eastern parts of Finland in the middle of the 20: th century. Around 1980, the w.f.reindeer was actively rentroduced to western Finland, and there the population has had a positive development. In eastern Finland though, the population have declined fast during the last years. This is partly due to an increased abundance of large predators, particularly wolf. In this study I investigated the possibilities for, and attitudes towards, a reintroduction of w.f.reindeer in parts of Sweden. My result indicates that the environmental possibilities for a reintroduction of w.f. reindeer to parts of Sweden probably are fairly good to good. The attitudes towards the w.f.reindeer is both positive and negative, much depending if you ask a hunter or an owner of semi-domestic reindeer. Many persons in my study can see several benefits with a reintroduction of w.f. reindeer, e.g. increase of hunting and recreational value of the nature. A problem that a reintroduction of w.f.reindeer in Sweden could cause, is that the w.f.reindeer can be mixed with the herds of semi-domestic reindeer. Experiences from Finland show that the reindeermanagement is disturbed when this happens. This is an important problem, or challenge, to solve if a reintroduction should be possible in the future.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cambridge University. / "Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology"--Cover. Includes bibliographical references (p. [245]-271.

This thesis is about the mobility of northern Baikal hunters, reindeer herders and fishermen and their engagement with living in the world through the structures they build and use in the context of numerous development projects and innovations. This work suggests a shift from the ‘static perspective’ where local people’s spatial practices were analysed through the prism of their relationship to a particular stationary structure, such as a village or a hunter’s base to a dynamic one where a structure is interpreted as embedded in a complex network of movements connecting a number of locations. The houses or hunting log cabins that local people use within their routine do not exist separately from other practices. Therefore, this thesis approaches northern Baikal hunters and reindeer herders as people settled neither in the village nor in the forest, but rather as people moving in-between structures, which are not necessarily concentrated in one particular place. It analyses some spaces that are intensively used and others that are used occasionally or seasonally without creating a dichotomy. The way of life of northern Baikal hunters, reindeer herders and fishermen demonstrates a certain continuity. They always combined the use of stationary and mobile architecture as well as movements of different length with their daily tasks. Local people’s everyday practices were always based on intensive movements between numerous locations which functioned as points of constant return. Local people managed to incorporate numerous innovations and development projects by means of movements and for the purpose of movements. Hence, movements can be interpreted as a creative process which serves as an expression of local people’s own ideas and views. This is a thesis about people for whom to move means to live.

This project is a pilot study to assess the viability of transplantation as a technique to establish reindeer lichens on reclaimed areas of oil sands surface mines in the Athabasca region of Alberta. There were two components to this study: a) a lichen transplant trial, where I investigated which commonly available substrates found in reclaimed forest sites would promote the best lichen fragment survival and vigour for a lichen ‘seeding’ program; and b) a diversity assessment of the reclaimed site to compare the existing cryptogam community with the expected community for the target ecosite based on published descriptions from the surrounding native forests and documented chronosequences for terrestrial lichen communities. In July 2009, Cladonia mitis was transplanted into 54 plots on three sites that were planted with jack pine or spruce 12 or 24 years ago, respectively, on the Suncor Millenium/Steepbank Mine (Suncor Mine). This trial was designed to investigate possible short-term indicators of successful lichen establishment and the effect of substrate (moss, litter, or soil) on the establishment of transplanted lichen thallus fragments. The indicators of lichen establishment evaluated were vigour, movement from plots, photographic areal cover, and microscopic growth (hyphal growth, annual growth and lateral branching). After two growing seasons, the effect of substrate on lichen transplant survival varied by site; there was no significant difference in lichen fragment retention in plots by substrate on the 24-year old sites, but median fragment retention was significantly higher on moss and litter substrates than soil on the 12-year old site. There was also no significant difference in fragment vigour between substrates on each site, except on the south-facing 24-year-old forest site where average vigour was significantly higher on moss plots than on soil plots. Photographic areal measurement is not recommended as a short-term lichen establishment monitoring tool for transplanted fragments based on the difficulties encountered using the method for this trial. Forty-one percent of the fragments collected for microscopic assessment after the first growing season had grown hyphae, 23 percent of the fragments collected during September 2009 and September 2010 had formed apothecia, and 31 percent of the fragments collected in September 2010 had grown lateral branches. The results of the biodiversity assessment were compared with the successional communities previously described for spruce- and pine-lichen boreal forests. There were no lichens found on the 12-year-old site, though the cup lichens were common to abundant on the 24-year-old sites, which is consistent with the cryptogammic community expected for a regenerating natural site of that age. Cladonia mitis was also present but rare to uncommon on the 24-year-old site, while Cladonia stellaris, Cladonia rangiferina and Cladonia stygia that, together with C. mitis, are indicative of the al and c1 ecosites of the Central Mixedwood Boreal forest, were not present. / Graduate

Despite more than a century of anthropological research, the origins of reindeer domestication remain elusive. A range of theories has been proposed as to the identity/identities of the first people(s) to tame reindeer for human use, and of the conceptual origins of reindeer husbandry (e.g. as an alternative to cattle, horses, dogs, etc.). While only a few of these theories still have adherents, none can be said to be demonstrated. This thesis seeks to contribute to the solving of this question by examining the origins of reindeer terminology--those words in the the many circumpolar languages for 'tame reindeer' and 'wild reindeer'. Examining data in nearly three hundred (mostly-northern) languages and dialects, the author hopes to determine which vocabulary is native to the peoples who use it and which terms are borrowed from other sources; these borrowings may mirror the transmission routes of reindeer husbandry as a form of economy. When plotted on maps, the linguistic data give credence to the most popular anthropological theory of the origins of reindeer domestication.

This study examines opportunities for renewable resource management when population data are collected by spatial subdivisions. In particular I look at potential applications for the design of management experiments, the distribution of monitoring resources, and the improvement of parameter estimation. Methods are developed to rank possible groupings of subdivisions for use as experimental units. Factors external to the experiment can cause differences between experimental units. Selecting subdivisions that have reacted similarly in the past to external factors could minimize the risk of external factors creating differences in experimental units. Methods are developed to identify subdivisions that could provide information about similar subdivisions when monitoring resources are low or when stratified sampling is being used. The use of these subdivisions as "index units" could notify managers of extremely good or bad years in a large number of subdivisions. Two methods developed by Walters (1986) provide innovative estimation techniques that can be used with subdivided populations. A Bayesian approach allows parameter estimates to be adjusted using a known distribution. Another approach allows similar subdivisions to be estimated jointly more accurately than would be possible individually. Not all renewable resource data sets provide reliable information for use with these applications. Data sets where there is little common variation, high levels of autocorrelation in the noise, or even modest amounts of measurement error are inappropriate for most methods. A series of steps is introduced for managers to test the reliability of the methods on their particular data sets. Data on Finnish reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) are used throughout the thesis to illustrate the methods. The reindeer data appear to be appropriate for these methods when tested using the steps developed. Possible experimental units and index units for monitoring are identified. Walters' (1986) methods of parameter estimation are used on the data set as well. The reindeer data show that subdivisions with similar external effects were located close to one another. This pattern was at least partially caused by the existence of extremely bad years occurring within geographic regions. The reindeer subdivisions are very highly managed and provide little evidence of any kind of density dependence. Managers could potentially benefit by conducting experiments to test the biological limits of the population growth rates and carrying capacities within subdivisions. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate