Alpine goats are growing smaller, due to a process known as "Heat laziness." Some scientists are questioning if this effect is being brought about due to global climate change.
Durham University researchers examined the effects of temperature on the average body size the Alpine Chamois, measured over three decades. Investigators in the study found the animals now weigh an average of 25 percent less than they did 30 years ago.
Decreases in body size have been noted in many species over the last few decades. Many researchers believe the changes may be due to global climate change. Over the years of the study, temperatures in the Italian Alps increased by between five and seven degrees Fahrenheit.
"Body size declines attributed to climate change are widespread in the animal kingdom, with many fish, bird and mammal species getting smaller. However, the decreases we observe here are astonishing. The impacts on Chamois weight could pose real problems for the survival of these populations," Tom Mason from the School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences at Durham University, said.
Global climate change can induce stresses in animal populations by reducing the availability of food, or by lowering nutritional value in plants. However, those factors do not seem to play a significant role in the loss of body mass in these populations. Instead, higher temperatures appear to be affecting the behavior of the Alpine Chamois.
Heat laziness, or resting in warm temperatures, may be playing a role in the loss of body mass in the mountain goats.
"We know that Chamois cope with hot periods by resting more and spending less time searching for food, and this may be restricting their size more than the quality of the vegetation they eat. If climate change results in similar behavioral and body mass changes in domestic livestock, this could have impacts on agricultural productivity in coming decades," Stephen Willis, a colleague of Mason's at Durham University, stated in a press release.
Shrinking body mass in animals could serve as an early warning signal of problems among the animals, potentially ending in catastrophic population collapse, the researchers warn.
Investigators determined historical animal body weights from long-term records developed by local hunters.
As juvenile members of the species depend on a healthy layer of fat to survive the winter, the fate of the Alpine Chamois population in the Italian Alps remains in question.
Study of the changing size of Alpine Chamois and a possible relationship to global warming was profiled in the journal Frontiers in Zoology.
