Study: Climate Change Is A Chief Threat to Polar Bears

An adult female polar bear and her two cubs travel across the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean north of the Alaska coast (photo by U.S. Geological Survey).
An adult female polar bear and her two cubs travel across the sea ice of the Arctic Ocean north of the Alaska coast (photo by U.S. Geological Survey).

A new federal study shows Alaska’s two polar bear populations could be greatly decreased in a decade. The research also shows global warming is by far the biggest threat to polar bear populations across the arctic compared to other stressors like hunting and pollutants. The information is critical to wildlife managers as they develop and implement a recovery plan for the species that was released July 2nd. The polar bear was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2008.

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Todd Atwood is a research biologist with the United States Geological Survey and lead author of the study. He says indirectly greenhouse gases are driving the loss of polar bear habitat- sea ice.

Polar Bear Ecoregions: In the Seasonal Ice Ecoregion (see map), sea ice melts completely in summer and all polar bears must be on land. In the Divergent Ice Ecoregion, sea ice pulls away from the coast in summer, and polar bears must be on land or move with the ice as it recedes north. In the Convergent Ice and Archipelago Ecoregions, sea ice is generally retained during the summer. (Photo by USGS)
Polar Bear Ecoregions: In the Seasonal Ice Ecoregion (see map), sea ice melts completely in summer and all polar bears must be on land. In the Divergent Ice Ecoregion, sea ice pulls away from the coast in summer, and polar bears must be on land or move with the ice as it recedes north. In the Convergent Ice and Archipelago Ecoregions, sea ice is generally retained during the summer. (Photo by USGS)
Lori Townsend

Lori Townsend is the chief editor, senior vice president of journalism and senior host for Alaska Public Media. You can send her news tips and program ideas for Talk of Alaska and Alaska Insight at ltownsend@alaskapublic.org or call 907-550-8452. Read more about Lori here.

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