Researchers are interested in reindeer herders' adaptation to the cold climate. Photo: Päivi Soppela.
Research project examines the adaptation of reindeer herders and office workers to the cold and changing climate. Study is conducted in northern Finland.
Climate change affects the Arctic region faster than in other parts of the world. As is well known, this has significant and very diverse effects on the nature and animals of the Arctic region. Also humans have various kinds of physiological and cultural coping mechanisms and strategies that help them adapt the cold. Researchers are now interested in what these means are like and are they changing as a result of climate change.
The new project Biocultural adaptation in a rapidly changing Arctic region will provide a comprehensive understanding of the interactions between, and limitations to, biology and behavior when inhabiting an extreme cold, yet rapidly changing environment, say University Researchers Minna Turunen and Päivi Soppela from the Arctic Centre at the University of Lapland.
Reindeer herders are a group of people whose livelihood, operating environment and everyday life are directly affected by climate change.
The new study examines the adaptability of reindeer herders and office workers in a changing climate. Both physiological as well as cultural mechanisms are in focus.
– We are also very interested in the role of traditional knowledge in coping with climate change and the perceptions of these two groups about the effects of climate change, Turunen continues.
In a broader context, the research project brings new information about the effects of climate change on the health and well-being of the inhabitants of the Arctic region.
– Physiological adaptation to a cold climate, for example with the help of brown fat, may promote health, but more information is needed on the matter. There is also still little information about the possible harmful effects of climate change on the health and well-being of people in the Arctic region, Soppela concludes.
Project is participated by the following members:
Associate Professor Cara Ocobock, Notre Dame, Indiana, US
University Researcher Päivi Soppela, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
University Researcher Minna Turunen, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
Professor Karl-Heinz Herzig, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Oulu
Researcher Ville Stenbäck Institute of Biomedicine, University of Oulu
More information:
University Researcher Minna Turunen
minna.turunen@ulapland.fi
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland
University Researcher Päivi Soppela
paivi.soppela@ulapland.fi
Arctic Centre, University of Lapland