With global warming, snow in lower altitudes has reduced. As a result, more people are taking to the back country, high-altitude alpine sports, recent research indicates that this may be causing stress to many alpine species.
Off-trail skiing, snowboarding and snow trekking, which are the boom activities in winter sports, may devastate rare alpine species. The research paper is authored by a team led by Raphael Arlettaz of the University of Bern and the Swiss Ornithological Institute.
Swiss ornithologists looked into the effect of winter disturbances on a declining species, the black grouse, which lives in semi-open habitat between high-altitude pastures and dense sub-alpine forests. The bird digs an igloo after its morning meal, and a fresh one at dusk, after an evening snack. They checked the birds faces in these igloos, which get preserved due to the extreme cold.
Feces in igloos that were even moderately disturbed by human snow activities showed a roughly 20-percent higher level in the stress hormone than feces in igloos that were completely undisturbed. Making frequent escape flights impose a major drain on the bird’s meager energy reserves, depleting its ability to survive the winter.
This makes a difficult choice for ski lovers who would hate to disturb the habitat of these birds.
Source: Discovery
