Why This Research Matters
By taking a deep dive into polar bear genetics, we can answer key questions about the bears, gathering survival clues and other critical information, like:
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How diverse are polar bears?
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Do genes play a role in their survival?
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Are bears that come into conflict with people predisposed to higher risk behaviour or is that behaviour learned?
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How do genetic differences impact their survival and reproduction?
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How can we monitor bears with less invasive and expensive techniques?
Thanks to scientific advances, we can now analyze the polar bears’ DNA and answer these, and other, questions.
What We’re Learning
Polar bears are not genetically adapting to climate change: When polar bears evolved from grizzly bears, they lost a lot of genetic variation. Genetic variation provides the genetic material for evolution and is essential for adaptation. Less variation means polar bears have fewer genetic “tools” to deal with increased exposure to pathogens and parasites.
Melting sea ice is changing how polar bears move around the Arctic, shifting their genetic distribution. Some polar bear subpopulations have become less genetically diverse with warming temperatures, while others appear stable.
Family trees are the key to genetic questions: Researchers in Western Hudson Bay developed a pedigree for over 4,300 individual polar bears over six generations, opening the door to new avenues of research.
Ecosystem connectivity is crucial for polar bear survival. As Arctic shipping increases, it will be important to avoid disrupting polar bear movement corridors. Hudson Bay in Canada is an essential mixing bowl for polar bear genes from multiple subpopulations. Increased shipping could make it harder for polar bears from different areas to interbreed, making them less adaptable in the longer term.