The ongoing biodiversity crisis requires policy tools to establish baselines and assess biodiversity status. Reindeer and caribou (Rangifer tarandus) are iconic ungulates in the Arctic and subarctic, but populations are declining. Although the species is considered vulnerable globally in the International Union for Conservation of Nature [IUCN] Red List, more detailed policy tools at the population level would allow for targeted conservation efforts nationally. We developed an environmental quality standard (or norm) for reindeer populations to evaluate their overall status and put complex variation and change into simple status categories (poor, medium, and good) based on sets of quantitative indicators for 1) population performance, genetic diversity, and health status; 2) available lichen resources; and 3) loss of seasonal habitat and connectivity. We implemented the environmental quality standard for 10 national and 14 smaller wild reindeer areas (populations) in Norway. Except for 1 area with good status, all others ranged from medium (n = 11) to poor quality (n = 12). More than half of the populations had medium (n = 7) or poor (n = 6) status for 1 or more population performance indicators, with negative trends in calf body mass and recruitment in several populations. High loss of genetic diversity gave poor status in 4 small and isolated populations, and 2 populations with chronic wasting disease scored poor on health status. The status of lichen resources was medium (n = 20) or good (n = 3), with 1 exception. However, lichen time series data were not available to evaluate temporal trends to assess overgrazing. Loss of connectivity (poor; n = 7) was more problematic than loss of seasonal habitat (n = 3). The poor availability of high-quality empirical data, particularly on population performance, has limited the ability to fully assess the conservation status of several small populations. The environmental quality standard provides an important step towards operationalizing management and aiding in securing the long-term conservation of wild reindeer. We discuss further improvements and the potential usefulness of this approach for other large mammals. La crise actuelle de la biodiversit & eacute; n & eacute;cessite des outils politiques permettant d'& eacute;tablir des donn & eacute;es de r & eacute;f & eacute;rence et d'& eacute;valuer l'& eacute;tat de la biodiversit & eacute;. Les rennes et les caribous (Rangifer tarandus) sont des ongul & eacute;s embl & eacute;matiques de l'Arctique et du subarctique, mais leurs populations sont en d & eacute;clin. Bien que l'esp & egrave;ce soit consid & eacute;r & eacute;e comme vuln & eacute;rable & agrave; l'& eacute;chelle mondiale dans la liste rouge de l'Union internationale pour la conservation de la nature [UICN], des outils politiques plus d & eacute;taill & eacute;s au niveau des populations permettraient de mener des efforts de conservation cibl & eacute;s & agrave; l'& eacute;chelle nationale. Nous avons & eacute;labor & eacute; une norme de qualit & eacute; environnementale pour les populations de rennes afin d'& eacute;valuer leur & eacute;tat g & eacute;n & eacute;ral et de classer les variations et les changements complexes en cat & eacute;gories simples (mauvais, moyen ou bon) sur la base d'un ensemble d'indicateurs quantitatifs portant sur 1) les performances de la population, la diversit & eacute; g & eacute;n & eacute;tique et l'& eacute;tat de sant & eacute;; 2) les ressources en lichens disponibles; et 3) la perte d'habitat saisonnier et de connectivit & eacute;. Nous avons appliqu & eacute; la norme de qualit & eacute; environnementale & agrave; 10 zones nationales et & agrave; 14 zones plus petites abritant des populations de rennes sauvages en Norv & egrave;ge. & Agrave; l'exception d'une zone pr & eacute;sentant un bon & eacute;tat, toutes les autres pr & eacute;sentaient une qualit & eacute; moyenne (n = 11) ou mauvaise (n = 12). Plus de la moiti & eacute; des populations pr & eacute;sentaient un statut moyen (n = 7) ou mauvais (n = 6) pour au moins un indicateur de performance d & eacute;mographique, avec des tendances n & eacute;gatives concernant la masse corporelle des veaux et le recrutement dans plusieurs populations. La perte de diversit & eacute; g & eacute;n & eacute;tique a entra & icirc;n & eacute; un mauvais & eacute;tat dans 4 populations petites et isol & eacute;es, et deux populations atteintes de la maladie du d & eacute;p & eacute;rissement chronique ont obtenu de mauvais r & eacute;sultats pour leur & eacute;tat de sant & eacute;. L'& eacute;tat des ressources en lichens & eacute;tait moyen (n = 20) ou bon (n = 3), & agrave; une exception pr & egrave;s. Toutefois, l'absence de s & eacute;ries temporelles sur l'abondance en lichens n'a pas permis d'& eacute;valuer les tendances temporelles afin d'& eacute;valuer le surp & acirc;turage. La perte de connectivit & eacute; (faible; n = 7) & eacute;tait plus probl & eacute;matique que la perte d'habitat saisonnier (n = 3). La faible disponibilit & eacute; de donn & eacute;es empiriques de haute qualit & eacute;, en particulier sur les performances d & eacute;mographiques, a limit & eacute; la capacit & eacute; & agrave; & eacute;valuer enti & egrave;rement l'& eacute;tat de conservation de plusieurs petites populations. La norme de qualit & eacute; environnementale constitue une avanc & eacute;e importante vers l'op & eacute;rationnalisation de la gestion et la mise en oe uvre de mesures visant & agrave; assurer la conservation & agrave; long terme du renne sauvage. Nous discutons des am & eacut Biodiversitetskrisen krever forvaltningsverkt & oslash;y som etablerer referanseverdier og vurderer status for biologisk mangfold. Villrein (Rangifer tarandus) er et ikonisk hjortedyr i Arktis og subarktiske omr & aring;der, men mange bestander er i tilbakegang. Selv om arten globalt er vurdert som s & aring;rbar p & aring; den internasjonale r & oslash;dlista, vil mer detaljerte forvaltningsverkt & oslash;y p & aring; bestandsniv & aring; gj & oslash;re det mulig med m & aring;lrettede bevaringstiltak nasjonalt. Vi har utviklet en kvalitetsnorm for villrein for & aring; evaluere bestandenes samlede status og forenkle komplekse variasjoner og endringer til enkle statuskategorier (d & aring;rlig, middels og god) basert p & aring; et sett av kvantitative indikatorer for 1) bestandskondisjon, genetisk mangfold og helsetilstand, 2) mengden lavressurser, og 3) tap av sesonghabitat og konnektivitet. Vi implementerte kvalitetsnormen for 10 nasjonale og 14 mindre villreinomr & aring;der (bestander) i Norge. Med unntak av ett omr & aring;de med god status, hadde de & oslash;vrige status som middels (n = 11) eller d & aring;rlig (n = 12). Over halvparten av bestandene hadde middels (n = 7) eller d & aring;rlig (n = 6) status for & eacute;n eller flere indikatorer for bestandskondisjon, med negative trender i kalvevekter og rekruttering i flere bestander. Betydelig tap av genetisk mangfold ga d & aring;rlig status i fire sm & aring; og isolerte bestander, og to bestander med skrantesjuke fikk d & aring;rlig status for helsetilstand. Status for lavressurser var middels (n = 20) eller god (n = 3), med ett unntak. Tidsseriedata for lavressurser manglet, og det var derfor ikke mulig & aring; evaluere utviklingen over flere & aring;r for & aring; vurdere eventuell overbeiting. Tap av konnektivitet (d & aring;rlig; n = 7) var et st & oslash;rre problem enn tap av sesonghabitat (n = 3). Begrenset tilgang p & aring; empiriske data, s ae rlig for bestandskondisjon, reduserte muligheten til & aring; vurdere bevaringsstatus for flere sm & aring; bestander. Kvalitetsnormen for villrein representerer et viktig skritt mot operasjonalisering av forvaltningstiltak, og den bidrar til & aring; sikre langsiktig bevaring av villrein. Vi diskuterer videre forbedringer og mulig nytte av denne tiln ae rmingen for andre store pattedyr.

For decades, researchers have employed sound to study the biology of wildlife, with the aim to better understand their ecology and behaviour. By utilizing on-animal recorders to capture audio from freely moving animals, scientists can decipher the vocalizations and glean insights into their behaviour and ecosystem dynamics through advanced signal processing. However, the laborious task of sorting through extensive audio recordings has been a major bottleneck. To expedite this process, researchers have turned to machine learning techniques, specifically neural networks, to streamline the analysis of data. Nevertheless, much of the existing research has focused predominantly on stationary recording devices, overlooking the potential benefits of employing on-animal recorders in conjunction with machine learning. To showcase the synergy of on-animal recorders and machine learning, we conducted a study at the Kutuharju research station in Kaamanen, Finland, where the vocalizations of rutting reindeer were recorded during their mating season. By attaching recorders to seven male reindeer during the rutting periods of 2019 and 2020, we trained convolutional neural networks to distinguish reindeer grunts with a 95% accuracy rate. This high level of accuracy allowed us to examine the reindeers' grunting behaviour, revealing patterns indicating that older, heavier males vocalized more compared to their younger, lighter counterparts. The success of this study underscores the potential of on-animal acoustic recorders coupled with machine learning techniques as powerful tools for wildlife research, hinting at their broader applications with further advancement and optimization.

This report is based on the book "Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change - pastoralism in Fennoscandia". The book, which was published in 2022, brings together previous and new research compiled within a Nordic collaboration project, ReiGN (Reindeer husbandry in a Globalizing North), funded by NordForsk during the years 2016 – 2021. Grants from NordForsk also funded this report. The report, published in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi, summarizes some of the main results from the book. In nine chapters it describes how reindeer herding is affected by climate change, the continuous loss of reindeer grazing land and other external factors that together represent large challenges for reindeer, reindeer herders and the reindeer herding community as a whole. The report contains perspectives from many different research areas. Each chapter in the report has one or more references and links to chapters in the above mentioned book, which is freely available online (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118565). The chapters in the report cover a range of different topics, like present and historical reindeer herding (Chapter 1), the genetic background of the semi-domesticated reindeer (Chapter 2), how reindeer ranges are used and how they are affected by climate change and expanding industrial development (Chapter 3), possibilities for adaptation to a warmer climate (Chapter 4), impact of large predators (Chapter 5), external and internal governance (Chapter 6), reindeer herding as subsistence (Chapter 7), the role of supplementary feeding (Chapter 8), and reindeer health and diseases in a climate perspective (Chapter 9). The report ends with some reflections over the present situation and future perspectives for reindeer herding. The report is aimed at herders and managers, as well as other land users, authorities and policymakers who deal with natural resource management, climate and environmental issues or other matters related to reindeer herding and the use of land and water within the reindeer herding area. Rangifer Report No 17 is the Norwegian version of the report. A Swedish version has already been published as Rangifer Report No 16. Reports in Finnish and North Sámi are published as following numbers of Rangifer Report.

A literature review on reindeer pastoralism was performed to assess research trends within this multifaceted field. A machine learning topic modelling approach was applied on abstracts retrieved online. The methodology offers a computational tool to find relevant themes by capturing meaningful structure among large collections of documents. Ten topics were identified. The three fastest expanding topics were related to “Space use”, “Climate change” and “Socio-cultural” aspects. They are interrelated and reflect the main challenges herders and reindeer are facing as their land use competes with an expanding resource extraction industry, arguably for facilitating the Green shift. Climate change thus indirectly influence the herders’ rights to land and resources and form of life. The “Socio-cultural” topic outnumbers the other topics during the last decade. The dominating natural science argument encompasses four topics: “Space use”, “Climate change”, “Herd productivity” and “Grazing and Vegetation”. Research across disciplines is still in its infancy, and an integration between social and ecological issues through a multidisciplinary approach demands for a deeper understanding of the future challenges faced by reindeer pastoralism.

This report is based on the book "Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change - pastoralism in Fennoscandia". The book, which was published in 2022, brings together previous and new research compiled within a Nordic collaboration project, ReiGN (Reindeer husbandry in a Globalizing North), funded by NordForsk during the years 2016 – 2021. Grants from NordForsk also funded this report. The report, published in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi, summarizes some of the main results from the book. In nine chapters it describes how reindeer herding is affected by climate change, the continuous loss of reindeer grazing land and other external factors that together represent large challenges for reindeer, reindeer herders and the reindeer herding community as a whole. The report contains perspectives from many different research areas. Each chapter in the report has one or more references and links to chapters in the above mentioned book, which is freely available online (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118565). The chapters in the report cover a range of different topics, like present and historical reindeer herding (Chapter 1), the genetic background of the semi-domesticated reindeer (Chapter 2), how reindeer ranges are used and how they are affected by climate change and expanding industrial development (Chapter 3), possibilities for adaptation to a warmer climate (Chapter 4), impact of large predators (Chapter 5), external and internal governance (Chapter 6), reindeer herding as subsistence (Chapter 7), the role of supplementary feeding (Chapter 8), and reindeer health and diseases in a climate perspective (Chapter 9). The report ends with some reflections over the present situation and future perspectives for reindeer herding. The report is aimed at herders and managers, as well as other land users, authorities and policymakers who deal with natural resource management, climate and environmental issues or other matters related to reindeer herding and the use of land and water within the reindeer herding area. Rangifer Report No 22 is the Finnish version of the report. Reports in Swedish, Norwegian and North Sámi have already been published as Rangifer Report No 16, No 17, and No 21, respectively.

This report is based on the book "Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change - pastoralism in Fennoscandia". The book, which was published in 2022, brings together previous and new research compiled within a Nordic collaboration project, ReiGN (Reindeer husbandry in a Globalizing North), funded by NordForsk during the years 2016 – 2021. Grants from NordForsk also funded this report. The report, published in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, North Sámi, and English summarizes some of the main results from the book. In nine chapters it describes how reindeer herding is affected by climate change, the continuous loss of reindeer grazing land and other external factors that together represent large challenges for reindeer, reindeer herders and the reindeer herding community as a whole. The report contains perspectives from many different research areas. Each chapter in the report has one or more references and links to chapters in the above mentioned book, which is freely available online (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118565). The chapters in the report cover a range of different topics, like present and historical reindeer herding (Chapter 1), the genetic background of the semi-domesticated reindeer (Chapter 2), how reindeer ranges are used and how they are affected by climate change and expanding industrial development (Chapter 3), possibilities for adaptation to a warmer climate (Chapter 4), impact of large predators (Chapter 5), external and internal governance (Chapter 6), reindeer herding as subsistence (Chapter 7), the role of supplementary feeding (Chapter 8), and reindeer health and diseases in a climate perspective (Chapter 9). The report ends with some reflections over the present situation and future perspectives for reindeer herding. The report is aimed at herders and managers, as well as other land users, authorities and policymakers who deal with natural resource management, climate and environmental issues or other matters related to reindeer herding and the use of land and water within the reindeer herding area. Rangifer Report No 24 is the English version of the report. Reports in Swedish, Norwegian, North Sámi and Finnish have already been published as Rangifer Report No 16, No 17, No 21, and No 22 respectively.

Text mining and topic analysis algorithms which group textual contents in the most efficient way, are becoming increasingly useful to summarise the main information contained in large data corpus of complex scientific fields. Using the literature about reindeer pastoralism as a case study, this methodological investigation addressed the issue related to the identification of the suitable number of topics that provide the best in-depth interpretation of a large data corpus. Two-thousand eight hundred and seventy-five documents extracted from Scopus (R) regarding the scientific literature of reindeer pastoralism were used. Four simulations with 8, 10, 12, and 20 topics were carried out to define the optimal number of topics that best explained the issues related to reindeer husbandry. The results showed that a reasonable trade-off between the number of articles and the number of topics, based on the reduction of the variance explained within the group, leads to an optimal choice in the search for the most meaningful simulation. The adoption of a too large number of topics, with the excessive fragmentation of the data corpus into small aggregations of documents, encourages the emergence of topics without any technical or practical meaning, solely as a result of the unsupervised iterative process.HIGHLIGHTSText mining for insight vast and complex scientific fields: a case study on reindeer pastoralism.Optimising topic identification to strike a balance between the size of the articles corpus and the number of topics and achieve the most insightful results.Too many topics can lead to fragmentation and irrelevant results, while too few may oversimplify the complexity of the dataset.

AbstractTo persist in seasonal environments, animals track, exploit, and store energy when food is plentiful. Seasonal changes in plant phenology that are predictable allow animals to track abundant food resources. However, little is known about how animals use and benefit from ephemeral and unpredictable food pulses during times when food is scarce. Climate change is altering the timing, abundance, and spatial distribution of food releases, emphasizing the ongoing need for understanding how unseasonal weather conditions influence access to food. Using 12 years of GPS‐location data and annual measures of body mass in 72 adult female Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus), we tested whether individuals with greater use of nutritionally beneficial resource pulses in autumn and early winter are heavier going into parturition in spring. Additionally, we evaluated how stochastic weather conditions influence the use of food resources. Reindeer that foraged most in marshes during autumn and early winter gained a positive carryover effect of up to 5 kg heavier body mass in late winter, with previously demonstrated benefits to both survival and reproduction. Marsh use was rare, brief, and intense, which is the expected response to a pulsed resource. The extent to which marshes were used varied greatly among years and was associated with stochastic mild spells that relaxed constraints of snow depth for a few days. Compared with other habitats used, marshes offered superior quantity and quality of belowground plant biomass that may be accessed more easily under milder autumn and winter conditions. Our findings demonstrate the individual benefits of exploiting stochastic food pulses and showcase how resource tracking during periods of food scarcity may be a behavioral trait that could enhance population resilience in a rapidly warming climate.

Some acoustic parameters of animal vocalisations have been shown to reliably indicate male quality and play a role in mate and rival assessment. Reindeer possess a peculiar vocal tract anatomy involving a laryngeal air sac which probably acts as an additional filter, making it a candidate species for novel investigations in the field of bioacoustics. We investigated whether some acoustic parameters of male rutting vocalisations were good indicators of age and body weight (used as an index for body size). We did this by performing acoustic analyses using recordings collected from a semi-domesticated reindeer population in northern Finland. We found the age of subadult males (aged 2.5-4.5 years) to be negatively correlated with formant F3 and formant spacing, suggesting that their vocalisations convey information on the caller's age. Individual formant frequencies were not affected by male body weight, but formant spacing was lower in heavier males. Despite the presence of the laryngeal air sac, formant spacing seems to be an acoustic parameter influencing mate and rival assessment in reindeer as it gives an honest indication of male body size. We discuss the importance of reliable acoustic cues to quality indices in sexual selection contexts.

This report is based on the book "Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change - pastoralism in Fennoscandia". The book, which was published in 2022, brings together previous and new research compiled within a Nordic collaboration project, ReiGN (Reindeer husbandry in a Globalizing North), funded by NordForsk during the years 2016 – 2021. Grants from NordForsk also funded this report. The report, published in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi, summarizes some of the main results from the book. In nine chapters it describes how reindeer herding is affected by climate change, the continuous loss of reindeer grazing land and other external factors that together represent large challenges for reindeer, reindeer herders and the reindeer herding community as a whole. The report contains perspectives from many different research areas. Each chapter in the report has one or more references and links to chapters in the above mentioned book, which is freely available online (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118565). The chapters in the report cover a range of different topics, like present and historical reindeer herding (Chapter 1), the genetic background of the semi-domesticated reindeer (Chapter 2), how reindeer ranges are used and how they are affected by climate change and expanding industrial development (Chapter 3), possibilities for adaptation to a warmer climate (Chapter 4), impact of large predators (Chapter 5), external and internal governance (Chapter 6), reindeer herding as subsistence (Chapter 7), the role of supplementary feeding (Chapter 8), and reindeer health and diseases in a climate perspective (Chapter 9). The report ends with some reflections over the present situation and future perspectives for reindeer herding. The report is aimed at herders and managers, as well as other land users, authorities and policymakers who deal with natural resource management, climate and environmental issues or other matters related to reindeer herding and the use of land and water within the reindeer herding area. Rangifer Report No 21 is the North Sámi version of the report. Reports in Swedish and Norwegian have already been published as Rangifer Report No 16 and No 17, respectively. A Finnish version is published as a following number of Rangifer Report.

Virtual fencing presents a promising solution for grazing management, providing flexibility, individual monitoring, potential improvements in land management, and enhanced animal welfare. However, welfare issues related to electric stimuli and species-specific learning abilities need consideration. This study aimed to investigate if sheep could learn and be fenced by a fully automated virtual fencing system. Eight Norwegian White ewes with twin lambs, all naive to virtual fencing, were randomly selected at the beginning of September 2018. Fitted with Nofence virtual fence collars designed for goats, the ewes were subjected to daily behavioural observations over nine days. The Nofence technology is a fully automated system that uses GPS coordinates, that trigger an audio cue when an animal crosses the boundary. If the animal does not turn, it receives an electric stimulus. The study was divided into three periods: an adaptation period (2 days), period 1 (5 days), where the first virtual boundary was introduced on day 1, and period 2 (4 days) when a second boundary was introduced. Additionally, the ewes wore heart rate monitors for at least one hour daily. Throughout the study, the ewes received a total of 218 audio cues and 38 electric stimuli, indicating an approximate individual mean of 27 audio cues and 5 electric stimuli received The number of audio cues and electric stimuli significantly decreased over days in both experimental periods. In period 2, the number of audio cues was significantly higher compared to period 1, while the success ratio in avoiding electric stimuli remained stable across days. The experimental period significantly influenced the frequency of standing/walking behaviour, being more common in the adaptation period compared to periods 1 and 2. However, the period did not have a significant effect on the percentages of lying or grazing behaviour. During heart rate monitoring, four ewes received one electric stimulus each, resulting in an immediate heart rate increase that returned to baseline within minutes. The present study demonstrates that sheep wearing a fully automated system quickly learned to associate audio cues with electric stimuli. The ability to generalise experiences from one virtual boundary to another emphasises their learning ability. Minor changes in activity were likely influenced by factors other than the virtual fencing system. The short-lasting increase in heart rate as a response to electric stimuli suggests a temporary stress reaction. Overall, this study provides valuable insights into the potential of virtual fencing for sheep management.

The operational sex ratio (OSR), the ratio of sexually active males to sexually receptive females, is one of the main measures used to predict the intensity and direction of mating competition, influencing the opportunity for sexual selection. Here, we conducted the first experimental study to investigate how OSR and male age impacts the intensity of mating competition in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), under semi-natural conditions during the rut. We manipulated OSR on two levels in two enclosures, a female biased treatment (3♂:6♀ = OSR 0.5) and a sex balanced treatment (3♂:3♀ = OSR 1), over 2 years with males from two age groups, and with females of various ages. We found some support for prevailing OSR theory, notably with female intrasexual competition occurring at lower frequencies in OSR 1 than OSR 0.5, and male intrasexual competition occurring at higher frequencies in the older male age group. Courtship behaviour was found to occur at higher frequencies in OSR 1 than OSR 0.5; however, there was no effect of male age. To successfully pass on genes to the next generation, one needs access to mates and winning a competitive bout is not always indicative of successfully accomplishing gene flow. Studies on OSR have the potential to help us understand the drivers behind sexual competition and how best to predict breeding outcomes during a rut.

Allonursing is the nursing of the offspring of other mothers. Cooperation is an emergent property of evolved decision rules. Cooperation can be explained by at least three evolved decision rules: 1) direct reciprocity, i.e. help someone who previously helped you, 2) kin discrimination, i.e. preferentially direct help to kin than to non-kin, and 3) generalized reciprocity, i.e. help anyone if helped by someone. We assessed if semi-domesticated reindeer, Rangifer tarandus, mothers allonursed according to the decision rules of direct reciprocity, generalized reciprocity and kin discrimination over 2 years. To assess if reindeer mothers allonursed according to the direct reciprocity decision rule, we predicted that mothers should give more help to those who previously helped them more often. To assess if reindeer mothers allonursed according to the kin discrimination decision rule, we predicted that help given should increase as pairwise genetic relatedness increased. To assess if reindeer mothers allonursed according to the generalized reciprocity decision rule, we predicted that the overall number of help given by reindeer mothers should increase as the overall number of help received by reindeer mothers increased. The number of help given i) increased as the number of help received from the same partner increased in the 2012 group but not in both 2013 groups, ii) was not influenced by relatedness, and iii) was not influenced by an interaction between the number of help received from the same partner and relatedness. iv) The overall number of help given increased as the overall number of help received increased. The results did not support the prediction that reindeer mothers allonursed according to the kin discrimination decision rule. The results suggest that reindeer mothers may allonurse according to the direct reciprocity and generalized reciprocity decision rules.

In polygynous systems, such as that exhibited by reindeer Rangifer tarandus, mate choice can be difficult to disentangle from male intrasexual competition because male behavior may constrain female choice. Multiple mating may provide an avenue for female mate choice, though it is difficult to identify using behavioral estimators alone. Molecular techniques address this issue by affording ecologists an opportunity to reassess mating systems from a genetic perspective. We assessed the frequency and possible explanations for multiple mating in reindeer using a genetic approach to determine the success of observed copulations in a semi-domesticated herd in Kaamanen, Finland. Behavioral and genetic data were synthesized with population characteristics over a 7-year period to test the hypothesis that, if present, polyandry in reindeer is driven by sexual harassment from sub-dominant males. We observed multiple mating in 42% of females, with as many as 60% exhibiting multiple mating in certain years. We found no evidence that multiple mating resulted from sexual harassment by sub-dominant males, suggesting that it is likely a deliberate strategy among females. Conversion rate of copulations into paternities varied with male size, with smaller males more likely to experience mismatch than larger males. Female preference for larger males persisted despite the occurrence of multiple mating, possibly suggesting a mechanism for cryptic post-copulatory selection. We suggest further research to delineate the possible influence of cryptic post-copulatory selection and multiple mating to defend against infertility in exhausted males.

This report is based on the book "Reindeer Husbandry and Global Environmental Change - pastoralism in Fennoscandia". The book, which was published in 2022, brings together previous and new research compiled within a Nordic collaboration project, ReiGN (Reindeer husbandry in a Globalizing North), funded by NordForsk during the years 2016 – 2021. Grants from NordForsk also funded this report. The report, published in Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi, summarizes some of the main results from the book. In nine chapters it describes how reindeer herding is affected by climate change, the continuous loss of reindeer grazing land and other external factors that together represent large challenges for reindeer, reindeer herders and the reindeer herding community as a whole. The report contains perspectives from many different research areas. Each chapter in the report has one or more references and links to chapters in the above mentioned book, which is freely available online (https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003118565). The chapters in the report cover a range of different topics, like present and historical reindeer herding (Chapter 1), the genetic background of the semi-domesticated reindeer (Chapter 2), how reindeer ranges are used and how they are affected by climate change and expanding industrial development (Chapter 3), possibilities for adaptation to a warmer climate (Chapter 4), impact of large predators (Chapter 5), external and internal governance (Chapter 6), reindeer herding as subsistence (Chapter 7), the role of supplementary feeding (Chapter 8), and reindeer health and diseases in a climate perspective (Chapter 9). The report ends with some reflections over the present situation and future perspectives for reindeer herding. The report is aimed at herders and managers, as well as other land users, authorities and policymakers who deal with natural resource management, climate and environmental issues or other matters related to reindeer herding and the use of land and water within the reindeer herding area. Rangifer Report No 16 is the Swedish version of the report. Reports in Norwegian, Finnish and North Sámi are published as following numbers of Rangifer Report.

The global challenges that humanity faces are addressed in various global agreements, such as the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity. However, all global goals require local implementation and must be locally accepted. Adaptation and transformation will claim large land resources, such as infrastructures, wind farms, mines and intense land use for bioenergy. This may exacerbate already existing conflict over land use and the rights to resources, not least in northern peripheral areas. Reindeer pastoralism is affected by all of these interwoven processes, which gives a need for more holistic regional land use planning. This chapter summarizes some of the factors that have contributed to a lack of such planning and points to the importance of including reindeer herders as ‘rightsholders’ and their traditional knowledge in a transition to a just and sustainable society.