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How do snow geese change tundra vegetation and soil thawing?
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Tundra
Alaskan mountain and tundra vegetation in the fall.
Snow geese significantly alter the tundra landscape through their feeding habits. By grazing, they often denude areas of cotton grass, leaving behind primarily mosses.1
This removal of vegetation changes the surface characteristics of the tundra in two key ways:
- Increased Solar Heating: By stripping away the insulating plant cover, the geese expose the underlying soil to direct sunlight, which increases the flux of solar energy into the ground.21
- Deepened Thaw: This increased heat absorption promotes deeper seasonal thawing of the soil. In some cases, this process can lead to soil creep on slopes.1
Additionally, by removing annual vegetative growth and recycling nutrients through excretion, geese can indirectly influence the productivity of the plant community in areas where they concentrate their grazing.2