The Search for Tools to Evaluate Climate Change’s Impact on Nutrition for Wild Muskox Populations: The Role of Hair Analysis as an Effective and Accurate Indicator of Nutritional Health in a Captive Muskox Population at the University of Alaska Fairbanks

Abstract

Climate change negatively affects muskoxen population dynamics due to extreme winter-weather events, hindering access to nutrition and encouraging trace mineral deficiencies. This causes reduced animal health and productivity. Detection, however, is difficult because wild populations often fail to display clinical symptoms, and conventional methods for determining nutrient status rely on biomarkers in tissues or blood—invasive and impractical techniques, especially among the Arctic’s free-roaming, remote, or endangered herbivores. A more practical method for evaluating population mineral-status is imperative, especially as the effects of climate change worsen in circumpolar regions. Hair-mineral analysis represents one such non-invasive method for determining trace mineral concentrations for Arctic herbivores. This study aims to assess the role of hair analysis as an effective and accurate indicator of trace-mineral status by analyzing qiviut samples from a captive muskox population (Fairbanks, Alaska), which experienced reduced mineral levels in 2008-2010 (especially, cobalt, copper, and selenium) and increased mineral levels from 2011-2014. Trace-minerals profiles of sampled qiviut showed significant differences in concentrations of cobalt, copper, and selenium between 2009 and 2011, successfully reflecting the shift from a comparatively low mineral diet to a higher mineral diet in 2010. Results from this study can help determine whether hair analysis represents a viable and more practical tool for determining health trends in wild muskox populations and informing conservation practices. This presents a particularly pressing demand considering climate change’s predicted deleterious effects on artic herbivore nutrition and population dynamics.