ABSTRACT
A warmer Arctic will not be beneficial to many populations of caribou (Rangifer tarandus), musk-oxen (Ovibos moschatus), and the people (Homo sapiens) who depend on them during the initial decades of climate change. Sweeping statements are risky, but this chapter gives the logic behind this one while acknowledging uncertainties in our understanding. The scale of the predictions is decades, covering the time of transition when changes in weather may be rapid. Longer-term changes occurring as plant communities adapt, such as a northward movement of the tree line, are not discussed here.
