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Dogs that pull sleds for tourists in Svalbard are helping to make the Arctic archipelago greener by fertilising the ground with their droppings.

In recent years, dog sledding has become a popular tourist attraction in Svalbard 鈥� a cluster of islands that sits roughly halfway between the north coast of Norway and the North Pole 鈥� and this has led to a boom in its dog population.

鈥淲hen I started visiting there 10 years ago, there were a few dog yards, and now there are dozens of them,鈥� says at the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Trondheim.

The ensuing waste, such as faeces and leftover food, can enrich the surrounding area with nutrients. So, Bartlett and her colleagues decided to investigate how dog yards and other animal settlements have affected local vegetation.

The team analysed satellite observations that measured the wavelengths of light reflected by Earth鈥檚 surface to determine how much vegetation there was at various sites in Svalbard between 1985 and 2021. The sites included active dog yards, pony stables, cliffs where seabirds live, historic animal settlements and undisturbed zones.

鈥淭here has been some level of greening across all sites, probably as a result of climate warming,鈥� says team member at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

Much larger increases in vegetation greenness, however, were seen at the sites where animals currently live or lived in the past. The greatest jump was seen at dog yards and former animal settlements, which were 44 per cent and 39 per cent more green in 2021 compared with 1985.

鈥淓ven relatively minor developments can have drastic and long-lasting impacts on the surrounding ecosystem,鈥� says Gallois. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a mirror for how sensitive the tundra ecosystem can be to change.鈥�

A greener Svalbard may not necessarily be better, though, says team member at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. More greenery means more nutrients are available for both native and non-native species to flourish, she says, which may change how wildlife interacts with the vegetation.

鈥淥ne particular potential future scenario that we fear is that a large-grown alien plant species will disperse to a nearby seabird cliff and outcompete threatened plant species while also providing shelter for predators like the arctic fox hunting for bird eggs,鈥� she says.