Arctic Biodiversity Trends 2010

Ecosystem services INDICATORS # 18–22 The Nutendli herders attribute the expansion of the willow to the tundra to the warming and melting of permafrost which they have observed. Elders of the Kolymskaya village reported in 2006 that willow are moving to tundra and to river banks. They said: “It tells of the changes which are under way. You should graze cows and horses, not reindeer on these spots. All of the tundra is covered with willows and bushes. It grows very fast now. We do not know how we can herd reindeer in the middle of these changes”

Mustonen,T. 2007. Report on the Biodiversity Observations of the Indigenous Communities of the ECORA Model Area Lower Kolyma River, Sakha-Yakutia, Russia. Conference Speech in Snowchange 2007: Traditions of the North, April 2007, Neriungri and Iengra, Sakha-Yakutia, Russia. Available from the Snowchange Cooperative, Finland.