A long-term study across the Finnish-Norwegian border in Lapland proved wetland vegetation to be resilient to reindeer summer grazing. The reindeer fence along the national border, built in 1950s, provided a chance to study the long-term effects of reindeer grazing. The study included also experimental fences that excluded reindeer grazing for 13 years on the Finnish side of the border. In Finland, reindeer graze in wetlands of the fells, the Lappish mountains, in summer. In Norway, summer grazing has been prohibited in the fells since the late 1950s, in order to protect winter pastures from overgrazing, and reindeer migrate to coastal areas for summer.
Click here for original story, Willow-dominated wetlands of Lapland fells are resilient to reindeer grazing
Source: Phys.org