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