Polar Bear Ecology
The Arctic’s Iconic Carnivore
Abstract
Climate change effects on the arctic are now becoming more evident to ecologists. Severe declines in polar bear populations are more noticeable as periods of sea ice cover are steadily declining. A decrease in sea ice is leading to nutritional stress in polar bears due to shorter periods available in prime hunting grounds. As a necessity to the polar bear’s niche a loss of sea ice has harmful implications to polar bear populations. Not only are hunting grounds being lost but industrialization and human habitation are decreasing the size of the polar bear’s natural habitat.
The Arctic’s Iconic Carnivore
There is increasing evidence from around the world today to show global climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. Many of the studies showing this evidence have now shifted to the arctic. This is due to the fact that many arctic species live in a fragile balance with the ecosystem around them. One of these species is the polar bear, being the largest land carnivore of this current time it is hard to believe that this icon of the arctic and arctic survival is in need of help. Studies in many regions across the circumpolar nations show that polar bear populations are declining. In the coming years it will be up to human conservation efforts to save this icon of the arctic, if it is not already too late. The polar bear is the symbol of power and determination to anyone who lives in the arctic. But the Inuit peoples across northern Canada see the polar bear as a way of life. It is the only way that they can sustain their families and themselves. Stirling and Parkinson explain that until recent years it was believed that unsustainable harvesting was the main factor threatening polar bear populations (2006, p.262). This seems like a faulty empirical claim at best when you take into consideration how much the Inuit depend on this animal for subsistence hunting, and the fact that they have been harvesting polar bears
Abstract
Climate change effects on the arctic are now becoming more evident to ecologists. Severe declines in polar bear populations are more noticeable as periods of sea ice cover are steadily declining. A decrease in sea ice is leading to nutritional stress in polar bears due to shorter periods available in prime hunting grounds. As a necessity to the polar bear’s niche a loss of sea ice has harmful implications to polar bear populations. Not only are hunting grounds being lost but industrialization and human habitation are decreasing the size of the polar bear’s natural habitat.
The Arctic’s Iconic Carnivore
There is increasing evidence from around the world today to show global climate is changing at an unprecedented rate. Many of the studies showing this evidence have now shifted to the arctic. This is due to the fact that many arctic species live in a fragile balance with the ecosystem around them. One of these species is the polar bear, being the largest land carnivore of this current time it is hard to believe that this icon of the arctic and arctic survival is in need of help. Studies in many regions across the circumpolar nations show that polar bear populations are declining. In the coming years it will be up to human conservation efforts to save this icon of the arctic, if it is not already too late. The polar bear is the symbol of power and determination to anyone who lives in the arctic. But the Inuit peoples across northern Canada see the polar bear as a way of life. It is the only way that they can sustain their families and themselves. Stirling and Parkinson explain that until recent years it was believed that unsustainable harvesting was the main factor threatening polar bear populations (2006, p.262). This seems like a faulty empirical claim at best when you take into consideration how much the Inuit depend on this animal for subsistence hunting, and the fact that they have been harvesting polar bears
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