Team Work to Help the World's Polar Bears
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The scientist says that basic information on the size, status, and trend of the population is necessary to make sure the population is sustainable and to avoid situations resulting in depletion. "The old adage is appropriate, 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,'" Schliebe says.
Data on the population's size, reproduction, survival, condition, and habitat associations will also provide a backdrop for understanding or evaluating the effects of climate change, Schliebe says.
"This region is experiencing some of the most dramatic seasonal movements and reductions in summer ice of any area in the circumpolar Arctic," he explains. "Yet we have only a vague notion, nothing in a quantitative sense, of what the effect of these environmental changes may be having on polar bears: that is, their distribution, fall access to denning areas, the survival of various age classes (with dependent and older bears being the most vulnerable), their physical condition, and corresponding changes in their recruitment and survival."
Finally,Schliebe notes, accurate and up-to-date quantitative life history information on the Chukchi bears could be useful in assessing the effects of a proposed trans-arctic shipping lane, offshore oil and gas development (leasing is set to occur next year in the Alaska sector), and other human activities.
Because the Chukchi population straddles the U.S. and Russia, a baseline study wasn't possible before. However, a new polar bear treaty signed by the two nations will allow scientists from both countries to work together.
Wrangel Island
For more than a decade, PBI has provided funds to underwrite the work of Dr. Nikita Ovsyanikov on Russia's Wrangel Island, home to the world's largest polar bear denning site. Having a presence on the island has helped discourage poachers and has allowed Ovsyanikov to record the changes in ice coverage—and bear numbers-on the remote outpost. Over the past few years, Ovsyanikov has recorded changes in weather patterns and a significant decline in polar bear numbers.
Ovsyanikov suggests that at least three factors may be responsible for the population drop:
Data on the population's size, reproduction, survival, condition, and habitat associations will also provide a backdrop for understanding or evaluating the effects of climate change, Schliebe says.
"This region is experiencing some of the most dramatic seasonal movements and reductions in summer ice of any area in the circumpolar Arctic," he explains. "Yet we have only a vague notion, nothing in a quantitative sense, of what the effect of these environmental changes may be having on polar bears: that is, their distribution, fall access to denning areas, the survival of various age classes (with dependent and older bears being the most vulnerable), their physical condition, and corresponding changes in their recruitment and survival."
Finally,Schliebe notes, accurate and up-to-date quantitative life history information on the Chukchi bears could be useful in assessing the effects of a proposed trans-arctic shipping lane, offshore oil and gas development (leasing is set to occur next year in the Alaska sector), and other human activities.
Because the Chukchi population straddles the U.S. and Russia, a baseline study wasn't possible before. However, a new polar bear treaty signed by the two nations will allow scientists from both countries to work together.
Wrangel Island
For more than a decade, PBI has provided funds to underwrite the work of Dr. Nikita Ovsyanikov on Russia's Wrangel Island, home to the world's largest polar bear denning site. Having a presence on the island has helped discourage poachers and has allowed Ovsyanikov to record the changes in ice coverage—and bear numbers-on the remote outpost. Over the past few years, Ovsyanikov has recorded changes in weather patterns and a significant decline in polar bear numbers.
Ovsyanikov suggests that at least three factors may be responsible for the population drop:
- Increased hunting and poaching in the Chukotka region over the last decade.
- Increased polar bear mortality due to climate change and reduced ice coverage.
- Distribution changes in polar bear populations in response to dramatic changes in ice coverage. For example, he believes that some bears may have moved from the East Siberia sector, which has experienced a dramatic reduction in the sea ice, to the Canadian sector, which has more substantial ice coverage.