Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions.
Recent observations suggest that polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are increasingly using land habitats in some parts of their range, where they have minimal access to their preferred prey, likely in response to loss of their sea ice habitat associated with climatic warming. We used location data from f...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:960589187f9148de9868c62ecf2b880e 2023-05-15T15:14:53+02:00 Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. Karyn D Rode Ryan R Wilson Eric V Regehr Michelle St Martin David C Douglas Jay Olson 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142213 https://doaj.org/article/960589187f9148de9868c62ecf2b880e EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4651550?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142213 https://doaj.org/article/960589187f9148de9868c62ecf2b880e PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 11, p e0142213 (2015) Medicine R Science Q article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142213 2022-12-31T08:43:33Z Recent observations suggest that polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are increasingly using land habitats in some parts of their range, where they have minimal access to their preferred prey, likely in response to loss of their sea ice habitat associated with climatic warming. We used location data from female polar bears fit with satellite radio collars to compare land use patterns in the Chukchi Sea between two periods (1986-1995 and 2008-2013) when substantial summer sea-ice loss occurred. In both time periods, polar bears predominantly occupied sea-ice, although land was used during the summer sea-ice retreat and during the winter for maternal denning. However, the proportion of bears on land for > 7 days between August and October increased between the two periods from 20.0% to 38.9%, and the average duration on land increased by 30 days. The majority of bears that used land in the summer and for denning came to Wrangel and Herald Islands (Russia), highlighting the importance of these northernmost land habitats to Chukchi Sea polar bears. Where bears summered and denned, and how long they spent there, was related to the timing and duration of sea ice retreat. Our results are consistent with other studies supporting increased land use as a common response of polar bears to sea-ice loss. Implications of increased land use for Chukchi Sea polar bears are unclear, because a recent study observed no change in body condition or reproductive indices between the two periods considered here. This result suggests that the ecology of this region may provide a degree of resilience to sea ice loss. However, projections of continued sea ice loss suggest that polar bears in the Chukchi Sea and other parts of the Arctic may increasingly use land habitats in the future, which has the potential to increase nutritional stress and human-polar bear interactions. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Chukchi Chukchi Sea Sea ice Ursus maritimus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Chukchi Sea PLOS ONE 10 11 e0142213 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Karyn D Rode Ryan R Wilson Eric V Regehr Michelle St Martin David C Douglas Jay Olson Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Recent observations suggest that polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are increasingly using land habitats in some parts of their range, where they have minimal access to their preferred prey, likely in response to loss of their sea ice habitat associated with climatic warming. We used location data from female polar bears fit with satellite radio collars to compare land use patterns in the Chukchi Sea between two periods (1986-1995 and 2008-2013) when substantial summer sea-ice loss occurred. In both time periods, polar bears predominantly occupied sea-ice, although land was used during the summer sea-ice retreat and during the winter for maternal denning. However, the proportion of bears on land for > 7 days between August and October increased between the two periods from 20.0% to 38.9%, and the average duration on land increased by 30 days. The majority of bears that used land in the summer and for denning came to Wrangel and Herald Islands (Russia), highlighting the importance of these northernmost land habitats to Chukchi Sea polar bears. Where bears summered and denned, and how long they spent there, was related to the timing and duration of sea ice retreat. Our results are consistent with other studies supporting increased land use as a common response of polar bears to sea-ice loss. Implications of increased land use for Chukchi Sea polar bears are unclear, because a recent study observed no change in body condition or reproductive indices between the two periods considered here. This result suggests that the ecology of this region may provide a degree of resilience to sea ice loss. However, projections of continued sea ice loss suggest that polar bears in the Chukchi Sea and other parts of the Arctic may increasingly use land habitats in the future, which has the potential to increase nutritional stress and human-polar bear interactions. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Karyn D Rode Ryan R Wilson Eric V Regehr Michelle St Martin David C Douglas Jay Olson |
author_facet |
Karyn D Rode Ryan R Wilson Eric V Regehr Michelle St Martin David C Douglas Jay Olson |
author_sort |
Karyn D Rode |
title |
Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. |
title_short |
Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. |
title_full |
Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. |
title_fullStr |
Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Increased Land Use by Chukchi Sea Polar Bears in Relation to Changing Sea Ice Conditions. |
title_sort |
increased land use by chukchi sea polar bears in relation to changing sea ice conditions. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142213 https://doaj.org/article/960589187f9148de9868c62ecf2b880e |
geographic |
Arctic Chukchi Sea |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Chukchi Sea |
genre |
Arctic Chukchi Chukchi Sea Sea ice Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Chukchi Chukchi Sea Sea ice Ursus maritimus |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 10, Iss 11, p e0142213 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://europepmc.org/articles/PMC4651550?pdf=render https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0142213 https://doaj.org/article/960589187f9148de9868c62ecf2b880e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0142213 |
container_title |
PLOS ONE |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
e0142213 |
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1766345284380524544 |