Most important of these is foraging, or access to food. Order In a new video from the NASA Astrobiology Program, astrobiologists Dr. Jason Dworkin and Dr. Scott Sandford explain the importance of the OSIRIS-REx mission in the quest to understand the role that asteroids and other small bodies play in the origins of life on Earth. It lives in the Himalayas, southeastern Iran, the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, the Korean … The USGS maintains a long-term research program focused on the population dynamics of the southern Beaufort Sea polar bear population. For decades scientists have struggled to study animals, like polar bears, which live in these remote areas. In the southern Beaufort Sea of the United States and Canada, prior investigations have linked declines in summer sea ice to reduced physical condition, growth, and survival of polar bears. One table provides location (classified into 5 broad regions) of individual bears during the spring. In recent years, a warming climate has caused major changes in the Arctic sea ice environment, leading to concerns regarding the status of polar bear populations. Research in this focal area is centered on (i) collecting data on a variety of systems that help determine and mediate polar bear health and energetics, and (ii) developing monitoring and surveillance programs for detecting changes in population health over time. In 2015, we published a study that used mark–recapture models to investigate the population dynamics of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea from 2001 to 2010, years during which the spatial and temporal extent of summer sea ice generally declined. Glob Change Over the last three decades, as sea ice has become thinner and prone to fragmentation, there has been a landward shift in the distribution... Polar bears are tied to the sea ice for nearly all of their life cycle functions. Advancements in biologging technologies have enabled the use of dynamic body acceleration derived from accelerometers as a proxy for energy expenditure.... Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing rapid and substantial changes to their environment due to global climate change. The American black bear (Ursus americanus) is a medium-sized bear endemic to North America.It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. Supplemental Materials for the Analysis of Capture-Recapture Data for Polar Bears in Western Hudson Bay, Canada, 1984-2004; 2007; DS; 304; Regehr, Eric V.; Lunn, Nicholas J.; Amstrup, Steven C.; Stirling, Ian. Life Cycle of a Bee: Eggs and Larva. We are currently developing an analytical approach that will allow us to integrate additional types of data (e.g., spatial data, non-invasively collected genetic data) into the modeling process to provide improved assessments of population status. Recent observations of intraspecific predation and cannibalism among polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea; 2006; Article; Journal; Polar Biology; Amstrup, S. C.; Stirling, I.; Smith, T. S.; Perham, C.; Thiemann, G. W. Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), Mapping, Remote Sensing, and Geospatial Data, Distribution and Movements of Polar Bears, University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). “The scenarios predicted by our models are encouraging in that there are clear actions that humans can take to improve the chances that healthy polar bear populations persist in the future.” - Todd Atwood, USGS. ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A team of scientists led by the U.S. Geological Survey found that polar bears, increasingly forced on shore due to sea ice loss, may be eating terrestrial foods including berries, birds and eggs, but any nutritional gains are limited to a few individuals and likely cannot compensate for lost opportunities to consume their traditional, lipid-rich prey—ice seals. American black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location.They typically live in largely forested areas, … Additionally, this work will allow us to develop an understanding of how polar bear populations will respond to a variety of... Below are publications associated with this project. Polar bears are not aquatic, however, and their only access to the seals is from the surface of the... Research in this focal area is centered on (i) collecting data on a variety of systems that help determine and mediate polar bear health and energetics, and (ii) developing monitoring and surveillance programs for detecting changes in population health over time. Below are other science projects associated with this project. Rode KD, Wilson RR, Douglas DC, Spring fasting behavior in a marine apex predator Most important of these is foraging, or access to food. Additionally, this work will allow us to develop an understanding of how polar bear populations will respond to a variety of stressors modulated by climate change, including contaminant and pathogen exposures, changes in food web structure and prey accessibility, and changes in spatial distribution. We developed a Bayesian network model to evaluate the relative influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors, and their mitigation, on the persistence of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). If you have questions about research or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies or Paul Laustsen. Fact: Removing the bear and not the attractant will only create an opportunity for another bear to move in, creating a vicious cycle of conflict and killing. Fish and Wildlife Service, Marine Mammals Management, in Anchorage, Alaska. Polar bears almost exclusively eat seals, and they are equally as dependent upon the sea for their nutrition as are seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals. Results of past studies have allowed us to assess the relationships between population vital rates and environmental change, which provides our partners with information needed to inform management decisions. US and international conservation planning efforts, including management of polar bears as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act and the circumpolar action plan for polar bears, require assessments that evaluate the temporal and spatial pattern over which sea ice loss and other factors may affect polar bear populations. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing loss of sea ice habitats used to access their marine mammal prey. Return to Ecosystems >> Marine Ecosystems, Polar bear family at a whale bone pile near Kaktovik, Alaska.​​​​​​​(Public domain.). Forecasting the influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on polar bears. Polar bears are tied to the sea ice for nearly all of their life cycle functions. In addition, the USGS collaborates with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in population studies in the... Research in this focal area is centered on (i) collecting data on a variety of systems that help determine and mediate polar bear health and energetics, and (ii) developing monitoring and surveillance programs for detecting changes in population health over time. Animal InfoBooks are your resource for wildlife information. The warming climate has the potential to drive significant changes in the health and energetics of Arctic fauna, particularly those dependent on sea ice habitats like polar bears. ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In a new polar bear study published today, scientists from around the Arctic have shown that recent generations of polar bears are moving towards areas with more persistent year-round sea ice. Although it has … 2015. However, recent reports from Alaska indicate that the proportion of the SB subpopulation observed on-shore during late... Conservation plans for polar bears (Ursus maritimus) typically cannot prescribe management actions to address their primary threat: sea ice loss associated with climate warming. OSIRIS-REx and the Origin of Life - Nov 12, 2020. 2009). If it completes all four stages of a life cycle the individual species is … Some of the most pronounced ecological responses to climatic warming are expected to occur in polar marine regions, where temperature increases have been the greatest and sea ice provides a sensitive mechanism by which climatic conditions affect sympagic (i.e., with ice) species. Polar bears of the southern Beaufort Sea (SB) have historically spent most of the year on the sea ice. The availability of denning habitat― mediated by landscape features that facilitate the formation of snow drifts― appears to increase in the eastern portion of the Alaska coastal plain. Explore the in-depth details about animals, environments, conservation issues, and much more. This loss of stable old ice has catalyzed additional losses of sea ice cover each summer because the thinner younger ice is more easily melted during the recent warmer summers. No data point selected. The effects of declining Arctic sea ice on local ecosystem productivity are not well understood but have been shown to vary inter-specifically, spatially, and temporally. A polar bear walks across rubble ice in the Alaska portion of the southern Beaufort Sea. The Arctic (top) and Antarctic (bottom) polar regions. provides an index of ecosystem productivity. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.13933, Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), Mapping, Remote Sensing, and Geospatial Data, Distribution and Movements of Polar Bears, Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Concentrations in Polar Bear Hair and Prey from the Alaska Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, 1978-2019, Fatty Acid Composition of Polar Bear Adipose Tissue and Ringed and Bearded Seal Blubber Collected in the Chukchi Sea, 2008-2017, Measurement Data of Polar Bears Captured in the Chukchi and Southern Beaufort Seas, 1981-2017, Multistate Capture and Search Data from the Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bear Subpopulation in Alaska, 2001-2016, Polar Bear Microsatellite Data Southern Beaufort Sea 2010-2013, Catalogue of Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus) Maternal Den Locations in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas and Nearby Areas, 1910–2018, Accelerometer Data from Collared Female Polar Bears in the Beaufort Sea, 2009-2016, Polar Bear Distribution and Habitat Resource Selection Data, Beaufort and Chukchi Seas, 1985-2016, Data from a Circumpolar Survey on Recreational Activities in Polar Bear Habitat, 2017-2018, Measures of Oxygen Consumption and Kinematics of Captive Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) and Captive Grizzly Bears (Ursus arctos) while Resting and Walking in a Metabolic Chamber, first-ever polar bear point-of-view footage, Increased Sea Ice Drift Puts Polar Bears on Faster Moving Treadmill, Polar Bear Outlook Favorable Under Certain Scenarios, How Climate Change Might Affect Polar Bears' Bodies, Greenhouse Gas Emissions Remain the Primary Threat to Polar Bears, Polar Bears Unlikely to Thrive on Land-based Foods, Polar Bears Shifting to Areas with More Sea Ice — Genetic Study Reveals, New Scientific Study Supports that Capture-based Research is Safe for Polar Bears, Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bear Population Declined in the 2000s, Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADFG). In recent years as sea ice extent has retreated further north in the fall, Chukchi Sea polar bears have shifted land-based denning northward primarily on Wrangel and Herald Islands in Russia and rarely on the Alaskan coast. Durner, G.M., and Atwood, T.C., 2018, A comparison of photograph-interpreted and IfSAR-derived maps of polar bear denning habitat for the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2018–1083, 12 p., https://doi.org/10.3133/ofr20181083. Until further sea ice loss is stopped, management of other stressors may serve to slow the transition of populations to progressively worsened outcomes, and improve the prospects for their long‐term persistence. This new approach should provide a biologically-relevant mechanism for bear density to vary within the study area, thereby reducing uncertainty associated with abundance estimates. The National Wildlife Federation brings nature to life in the pages of our publications, inspiring people of all ages and reading levels to develop a deeper relationship with our natural world. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are one of 4 marine mammal species managed by the U.S. Department of Interior. Polar bears are not aquatic, however, and their only access to the seals is from the surface of the... Information on the status and trends of polar bear populations are needed to inform management of polar bears under US laws and international agreements. Pregnant bears den in snow banks for more than 3 months in winter during which they give birth to and nurture young. Because marine mammals occupy upper trophic levels in Arctic food webs, they may be useful indicators for understanding variation in ecosystem productivity. Respondents answered a series of questions on their background and experience with polar bears and the geographic area in which they are fa. Further we are conducting a variety of research to better understand the factors affecting survival and reproduction. Identifying factors influencing the distribution of dens and denning duration will allow us to better monitor reproductive success and mitigate the potential for disturbance of denned bears from anthropogenic activities. Information on the status and trends of polar bear populations are needed to inform management of polar bears under US laws and international agreements. Historically, most polar bears from the Southern Beaufort Sea population constructed maternity dens on the sea ice. Over the past 25 years, the summer sea ice melt period has lengthened, and summer sea ice cover has declined by over half a million square miles. An animal’s health and energetic state reflects the interaction between its behavioral choices and the environment. In June of 2014, the USGS released the first-ever polar bear point-of-view footage, offering a never-seen-before perspective from the top Arctic predator. D. This dataset includes accelerometer data collected on collars deployed on female polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea from 2009-2016. In addition, the USGS collaborates with the US Fish and Wildlife Service in population studies in the Chukchi Sea. This study found that low survival, particularly of cubs, from 2004 through 2006 led to a 25–50% decline in population size in less than 10 years. Dashed lines denote approximate boundaries for the polar regions; as their spatial footprint varies in relation to particular cryosphere and ocean elements or scientific disciplines, this chapter adopts a purposefully … Polar bear life cycle graph; σ i is the probability an individual in stage i survives from time t to t + 1, σ L0 and σ L1 are the probabilities that at least one member of a cub‐of‐the‐year or yearling litter, respectively, survives from time t to t + 1, f is the expected size of a yearling litter that survives to 2 years, and β i … Polar bears are tied to the sea ice for nearly all of their life cycle functions. The accelerometer was built in to collars by Telonics, Inc. and provides a single activity value of the number of seconds active per time interval of data collection. While the bear is protected in North America, reintroducing it into its previous range is a slow process, partly because the grizzly has such a slow life cycle. Proponents of the hypothesis argue that it best explains sedimentary deposits … Below are news stories associated with this project. Effective conservation planning requires understanding and ranking threats to wildlife populations. Click on a pin on the map to see more information. The Snowball Earth hypothesis proposes that during one or more of Earth's icehouse climates, Earth's surface became entirely or nearly entirely frozen, sometime earlier than 650 Mya (million years ago) during the Cryogenian period. Biol. Do you know what it means? Most important of these is foraging, or access to food. Polar bears almost exclusively eat seals, and they are equally as dependent upon the sea for their nutrition as are seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals. Because of this, measuring changes in health and energetics has potential for revealing important associations between environmental stressors and population dynamics. Historically, most polar bears from the Southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) population constructed maternity dens on the sea ice. Consistently, sea ice conditions are the most influential determinant of long-term population outcomes. The bobcat (Lynx rufus), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America.It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico.It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2002, due to its wide distribution and large population. Adverse consequences of loss of sea ice habitat become more pronounced as the summer ice‐free period lengthens beyond four months, which could occur in most of the Arctic basin after mid‐century if greenhouse gas emissions are not promptly reduced. Public domain.). Simultaneously, ocean warming is changing ecosystems that support marine mammal populations. This dataset contains measures of oxygen consumption and kinematic measures from 2 captive polar bears and 7 captive grizzly bears resting and walking in a metabolic chamber. The dataset includes sex, age, and age class of the bears that were sampled. These data from satellite radio-collared adult female polar bears captured in the southern Beaufort Sea, 1985-2016 were used for testing the regional, seasonal and decadal efficacy of retrospective polar bear resource selection functions (RSF) developed for the Arctic basin and its peripheral seas (see Durner et al. Polar bear population dynamics in the southern Beaufort Sea during a period of sea ice decline. The overarching goal of our research is to assess current and projected future responses of polar bears to a rapidly changing Arctic environment. ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A polar bear capture and release-based research program had no adverse long-term effects on feeding behavior, body condition, and reproduction, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey. Bears are among the least productive mammals in North America. Bromaghin, J. F., T. L. McDonald, I. Stirling, A. E. Derocher, E. S. Richardson, E. V. Regehr, D. C. Douglas, G. M. Durner, T. Atwood, and S. C. Amstrup. Information on the status and trends of polar bear populations are needed to inform management of polar bears under US laws and international agreements. This dataset includes carbon and nitrogen isotope concentrations measured in polar bear hair and marine mammal prey samples collected 1978-2017 in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. Below are other science projects associated with this project. Threats include habitat loss from human encroachment, human-bear conflict, pollution, and climate change. Various place names referred to in the text are marked. Myth #10: Shooting or relocating a ‘nuisance’ bear will solve the problem. Anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are the primary cause of climate change and an estimated increase of 3.7 to 4.8 °C is predicted by the year 2100 if emissions continue at current levels. Polar bears almost exclusively eat seals, and they are equally as dependent upon the sea for their nutrition as are seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals. Pregnant polar bears enter maternity dens in October/November, give birth to cubs in December/January, and exit dens in March/April. Survey-based assessment of the frequency and potential impacts of recreation on polar bears. However, there may be other stressors that compound the negative effects of sea ice loss which can be mitigated. Most important of these is foraging, or access to food. The three types consist of reproductive, workers, and soldiers. To estimate both the population size and vital rates, we have used mark-recapture studies relying on physical capture of bears, primarily during the spring. To learn more about receiving magazines from the National Wildlife Federation, please visit our subscription page. Denning is one of the most vulnerable times in polar bear life history as the family group cannot simply walk away from a... We summarize recent (2002–17) publicly available information from studies within the 1002 Area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge as well as terrestrial and coastal ecosystems elsewhere on the Arctic Coastal Plain that are relevant to the 1002 Area. That’s the taking-off point for a new polar bear study, conducted by U.S. Geological Survey researchers with an assist from the Oregon Zoo — and published this week in the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology. Combined with projections of population decline due to continued climate warming and the ensuing loss of sea ice habitat, those findings... Regehr and others (2007, Survival and population size of polar bears in western Hudson Bay in relation to earlier sea ice breakup: Journal of Wildlife Management, v. 71, no. This data set provides Polar Bear microsatellite genotypes derived from twenty loci (G1A, G10B, G10C, CXX110, G1D, G10H, G10J, G10L, G10M, MSUT2, MU59, G10P, 145P07, CPH9, CXX20, MU50, MU51, G10X, CXX173, G10U). Our studies, ongoing since 1985, are focused on population dynamics, health and energetics, distribution and movements, maternal denning, and methods development. Properties of Life. et al. The first is that we inadvertently stated that the forward looking infrared (FLIR) survey simulations only represented a single FLIR survey. Atwood, T.C., Bromaghin, J.F., Patil, V.P., Durner, G.M., Douglas, D.C., and Simac, K.S., 2020, Analyses on subpopulation abundance and annual number of maternal dens for the U.S. In reality, the analysis assumed two independent FLIR surveys occurred prior to simulated seismic activity occurring... Large‐scale industrial activities can have negative effects on wildlife populations. In a new polar bear study published today, scientists from the United States and Canada found that during the first decade of the 21st century, the number of polar bears in the southern Beaufort Sea experienced a sharp decline of approximately 40 percent. Bears were also aged as described in the methods. Most important of these is foraging, or access to food. The Asian black bear (Ursus thibetanus), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. Maturation phase produces two haploid cells – Larger one called secondary oocyte & the smaller one called polar bodies (1st polar body). Ecological Applications 25(3):634-651. Between 24 January and 10 April 2004, we confirmed three instances of intraspecific... Below are partners associated with this project. A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Wyoming found that increased westward ice drift in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas requires polar bears to expend more energy walking eastward on a faster moving “treadmill” of sea ice. This conclusion holds true under both a reduced greenhouse gas emission scenario that stabilizes climate warming and another scenario where emissions and warming continue at the current pace, according to updated U.S. Geological Survey research models. We have developed Bayesian network models to forecast the circumpolar status of polar bears, evaluate the potential benefit of mitigated greenhouse gas emissions on sea ice habitat, and the influence of environmental and anthropogenic stressors on population persistence.