GRAZING STRATEGIES OF MUSKOXEN (OVIBOS-MOSCHATUS) DURING WINTER IN ANGUJAARTORFIUP-NUNAA IN WESTERN GREENLAND

Terrain and vegetation use by muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus) during winte r was examined through surveys of fecal pellet groups in western Green land in 1994. Being virtually free of snow, Kobresia myosuroides stepp e and dry and moist shrub heath were used extensively by muskoxen. Use varied among the three heath vegetation types in relation to the prop ortion of shrubs to graminoids, with most use being made of K. myosuro ides steppe. Density of fecal pellet groups varied from 300 groups/ha at a graminoid biomass of ca. 30 g/m(2) to >2500 groups/ha where bioma ss exceeded 100 g/m(2). Within K. myosuroides steppe, density of fecal pellet groups was <500 groups/ha on narrow ridges compared with >2000 groups/ha on wider steppe formations. Adaptation by muskoxen to grazi ng steppe-like vegetation throughout the Late Pleistocene may explain the extraordinarily rapid growth of the population in this grass stepp e landscape in western Greenland.