Understanding Life in the Freezer: locomotor performance as the key to understanding the possible influences of climate change in high Arctic species

Scientific research has focused on the Arctic recently as this region is at high risk from the effects of climate change. Animal energy budgets are linked to species survival and are composed of various factors including the cost of locomotion. These costs associated with activities such as walking and running are likely to be significant as the predicted outcomes for the effects of climate change are shifts in the amounts of time apportioned to different activities. Maintaining an energy balance is vital to the energy conservation and evolutionary fitness of all organisms. However, our current understanding of the basic physiology of many of the animals living in this region is not sufficient to allow inferences into the possible effects of climate change to be properly assessed. Therefore, this project will use a combination of laboratory and field based techniques to investigate the daily energy budgets and cost of locomotion for Arctic species including reindeer and ptarmigan.