Due to the extreme conditions of their habitat and their constant need for hunting food, creatures in the Arctic have probably become masters in the craft of adaptation and energy-saving. Researchers have recently discovered a method polar birds use to save their energies during the winter by weakening their immune systems.

Researchers from Lund University in Sweden and the University of Tromsø in Norway have examined the polar bird, Svalbard rock ptarmigan, and the integrity of their immune system. This bird lives the farthermost part in the Arctic than any land bird and is the only terrestrial bird that lives in the archipelago throughout the year. Researchers have investigated how the bird's immune response differs between winter and late spring.

Andreas Nord, a researcher at Lund University, said that they discovered that the birds reduce their energy expenditure by keeping their own immune defense in tip-top shape during the five months of the year when it is relentlessly dark.

He adds that the birds' stored energy is focused on keeping themselves warm and looking for food. In return, when daylight comes, their immune response is once again strengthened.

The researchers also discovered that when the birds become sick in the winter, their energy consumption falls compared to when they are healthy. On the other hand, when the birds become ill in late spring, their energy expenditure increases instead.

Nord says that the risk of being infected by different diseases so far up in the north is less likely in the winter compared to the summer. He adds that a weakened immune system is probably a part of the polar animals' way of adapting during the winter.

Svalbard rock ptarmigan save energy by weakening an already weak immune system. According to the researchers, this is most likely due to the fact that the species emerged in the Arctic, where there has been less of a need for a robust immune defense system.

Nord infers that a weaker immune system may have negative consequences when the climate changes. It may also affect migratory birds that arrive earlier in the Arctic and proceed to leave later on.

The study conducted by researchers was published in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

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Tourism in the Arctic

In the past few years, the Arctic has been put in the spotlight as a new and developing tourism destination. Due to easier accessibility allowed by warmer temperatures and increased demand for "extinction tourism," people have flocked to the icy region.

The so-called "last chance tourism" also affects other vulnerable destinations threatened by climate change impacts, such as the Great Barrier Reef. In some Arctic areas, tourism, particularly cruises, is one of the fastest-growing economic districts.

As an increasing number of tourists come ashore in places where people have not set foot before, it could pave the way for an increased risk of disease for the animals. Nord says that it may be a threat to animals that have evolved in the Arctic, where a strong immune defense system might not have been necessary.