Polar Bears Changing Habitat In Response to Climate Change
Read Time:1 Minute, 36 Second
A long-term study showing the changes in habitat associations of polar bears in response to sea ice conditions in the southern Beaufort Sea has implications for polar bear management in Alaska.
Karyn Rode, a polar bear biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Anchorage, Alaska and one of the study’s authors, says data collected between 1979 and 2005 show that polar bears in the region are occurring more frequently on land and in open water and less frequently on ice during the fall. This means there are increased chances for human/bear interaction. The paper was published in the December issue of Arctic — the journal of the Arctic Institute of North America.
Polar bears were observed over the 27-year period by U.S. government Minerals Management Services staff as part of the fall bowhead whale aerial survey conducted annually in the southern Beaufort Sea. Ice conditions were also recorded.
Data showed that as ice conditions changed, bears were being found in different habitats. Between 1979 and 1987, 12% of bear sightings were associated with no ice. Between 1997 and 2005, however, 90% of bear sightings were associated with no ice.
“When bears were seen, they were more often seen in open water and on land than on sea ice. At the same time, changes were observed in mice, suggesting that these observations are connected,” says Rode.
In addition, the number of bears sighted steadily increased from 138 bears in the years 1979-1987 to 271 bears between 1988 and 1996 and finally to 468 bears between 1997 and 2005. Rode warns that this study was not designed to estimate the number of bears using the nearshore area. Data were drawn from studies that tracked bowhead whale migration routes, not polar bear populations. Therefore, it should not be concluded that more bears are occurring in the nearshore waters off the Southern Beaufort Sea coast.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
