Overview

• University of Oulu researchers reported that snow depth changes did not alter carbon exchange where reindeer still graze, suggesting short‑term winter shifts may have limited effects in those forests.
• In the 55-year Kevo exclosure, shallow snow increased carbon release and deeper snow decreased it, while grazed areas and a 25-year exclosure at Oulanka showed stable fluxes under the same manipulations.
• The team proposes that lichen recovery at the long-ungrazed Kevo site may have changed soil temperature and moisture, influencing decomposer activity and carbon emissions, a mechanism they plan to test further.
• Field work during 2019–2023 used increased and decreased snow depth treatments within the EcoClimate network to isolate grazing history × snow interactions on understory and soil CO2 exchange.
• The peer‑reviewed study, published in Science of The Total Environment, highlights implications for biodiversity and land‑use planning and notes ongoing projects on how grazing and climate trends affect trees and overall forest carbon balance.