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Latest insights into our latest mission to the Arctic.
Canada’s Arctic ice shelves have almost halved in size over the last six years.
Summer 2011 marks the second lowest sea ice extent on record
Polar Bear Update
December 19, 2011
The status of polar bear populations has been assessed at both national (5 national assessments) and international level. 7 of 19 of the World’s polar bear sub-populations are found to declining in number, with trends in two linked to reductions in sea ice. The report is published as part of NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Arctic Report Card.
Polar bears have a circumpolar distribution that is influenced by the distribution and availability of sea ice. Sea ice provides the primary platform on which polar bears travel, hunt, mate and, in some areas, den. Polar bears prey primarily on seals and to a lesser extent on other marine mammals (e.g., walrus and whales). As a result, climate-mediated changes in the availability of sea ice have the potential to significantly influence the availability of prey for bears, potentially affecting individual growth, reproduction and survival.
The world’s polar bear population is estimated to be between 20,000-25,000 bears occurring in 19 relatively discrete sub-populations around the Arctic (see below diagram).
Of the 12 sub-populations currently considered as having sufficient data to assess a population trend, only three have good trend data (western Hudson Bay, northern Beaufort and southern Beaufort).
Despite substantial research and monitoring of polar bears in some areas of the Arctic there is a general lack of knowledge in regards to how the cumulative effects of climate warming, contaminants, disease, harvest, industrial development and other human activities are likely to interact to influence the status of the world’s polar bear sub-populations. In an effort to address both the individual and cumulative effects of these stressors, the Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna Working Group of the Arctic Council (CAFF) has facilitated the development of a Circumpolar Polar Bear Monitoring Plan that will provide advice on approaches for the coordinated collection and synthesis of the data required to effectively manage and mitigate existing threats to polar bear conservation.
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