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Temperature, rainfall, snow and extreme weather events are all factors linked to climate change that directly affect wildlife. Understanding the impact of these factors on the physiology, population dynamics and distribution of different deer species is important for monitoring and protecting them.

The paper is published in the journal Global Change Biology.

With the overall rise in temperatures, milder winters appear to be advantageous for many deer populations: they use less energy keeping warm and can find food more easily. However, for species living in colder climates such as reindeer or caribou, winter temperature variations can cause snow to melt and refreeze, covering vegetation under an ice sheet that makes the lichens the animals usually feed on inaccessible.

Similarly, hotter and drier summers could exceed deer populations' physiological tolerances, mainly due to heat stress and parasites. In the short term, the animals' physical condition could deteriorate; in the long term, some species could move further north, which would change their distribution. This is already happening to moose, the largest deer species and one which is best adapted to cold climates.

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