Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

Svalbard, on the ice

Winter in Svalbard is hard. Only four vertebrates face it: the reindeer or caribou ( Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus ), the white partridge ( Lagopus muta hyperborea ), a luroon ( Microtus levis ) and the arctic fox ( Vulpes lagopus ) . However, they depend on the weather.

A study by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology has shown that extreme weather synchronizes the dynamics of the populations of these four animals. Above all, this effect has been observed with the rain. When it rains on the snow, everything stops under a blanket of ice, as well as the food that reindeers, white eaters and earthlings usually look for in the snow. Thus, the rain can leave the populations of these three species affected.

The foxes are affected a year later. Initially, the rain and ice lead to an increase in the population of foxes. In fact, the fox feeds on the other three species, and the more they die in the harsh winter, the more easy food for the foxes. The following year, the comoros; because the herbivores that survive are the strongest, the most difficult to catch, and the most likely to die.