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Student essays

Wildlife ecology Essay

Alopex lagopus – Arctic fox

Tuva Malm

In addition to the wolf the arctic fox is one of Norway’s most endangered mammals.
It is listed on the Norwegian national red list as endangered (E), which means that if nothing is done with the negative factors the species might become extinct in near future.

It is no coincidence that Norway’s most endangered species are carnivores. Because they are high on the food chain they are sensitive for different changes (e.g.: environmental changes) in the levels below them in the chain.

Some facts:

• Adapted to arctic climate.
• Two different colours, white and blue. 95% of the arctic foxes in the world are white, the blue ones are most often found on Greenland and on islands like Iceland.
• They live to be 3-5 years old
• Monogamous sp.
• Normal weight in Norway is 2.5-5 kg
• Nutrition:
  • small rodents
  • reindeer cadavers
  • Bird eggs
  • vegetation
  • human garbage
  • other small game
  

BUT! The size and numbers of the litters follows the population curves of small rodents closely!

• Mating season in March-April. After 50 days of pregnancy the female gives birth to 3-6 puppies (-in a normal year. In very rare cases up to 16 puppies!) Maximal survival first year is 30%, but usually the survival rate is much lower.


The arctic fox population reached its minimum in the beginning of the 20th century. Most probably because of hunting, catching, poisoning and rewards for shooting before it became a protected species in 1930. (Sweden 1928, Finland 1940)

But the population has never been able to recover even after the protection. It has been especially reduced the last 20 years and the number of litters and puppies varies a lot.
The year 2001 was extreme with 99 registered puppies in Norway and Sweden. (Compared to 2003 with 3 litters altogether in N and S)

Now I think it is time to ask the question WHY?

Why is the population still on the Norwegian red list as an endangered species after over 70 years of protection?

It is still very uncertain if the hunting and catching before the protection is the main reason for the declination of the population.
The combination of several reasons is more likely than one specific reason.

Some of the most important reasons are:

• Fragmentation of the populations.
• Interspecific competition. (Vulpes vulpes)
• Negative consequences from inbreeding.
• Climate.
• Nutrition (increased grazing from sheep and reindeer ?less rodents.)
• Escaped tame fox.
• Fragmentation of living areas. (Human activity ? roads, cabins)


HOW to protect the arctic fox in Norway:

DN (The Norwegian directorate for natural resource management) has developed a plan of action for the protection of the arctic fox. (www.dirnat.no –available only in Norwegian.)

Because of the uncertainty around the main reasons why the species is endangered it is hard to find concrete ways to increase the population size. It has been shown that short-term plans like winter feeding of small isolated populations can work, but in the long run more permanent solutions must be found.

To protect and maybe help this species back on its feet it is necessary to know more about its ecology and to discover where the main problems are and try to do something about them.

But as mentioned before this is not an easy task!

Cooperation with the neighbouring countries (Fennoscandia) is important since the population is shared between the countries!

Sources:
www.grida.no

www.fjellrev.no

www.dirnat.no

www.nina.no

www.miljøstatus.no

www.fivh.no

www.zoologi.no

+Lecture notes from Peter kabai
+Notes from my own natural resource management studies (agricultural high school)