Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard
We evaluated a novel tool that predicts possible maternity den habitat of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) based on a physical snow transport model, a digital terrain model and weather data. We observed and compared den locations in three important denning areas in east Svalbard (Kongsøya,n= 288; Sv...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2020
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Online Access: | https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447 https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3447 |
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/3447 2023-05-15T15:05:40+02:00 Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard Merkel, Benjamin Aars, Jon Liston, Glen E 2020-03-24 text/html application/pdf application/epub+zip text/xml https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447 https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3447 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10245 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10243 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10244 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10246 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10134 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447 doi:10.33265/polar.v39.3447 Polar Research; Vol 39 (2020) 1751-8369 Climate change reproduction SnowDens-3D snowdrift model terrain model topograpy info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2020 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3447 2021-11-11T19:14:21Z We evaluated a novel tool that predicts possible maternity den habitat of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) based on a physical snow transport model, a digital terrain model and weather data. We observed and compared den locations in three important denning areas in east Svalbard (Kongsøya,n= 288; Svenskøya,n= 86; Hopen,n= 115) with modelled snowdrift distributions for 24 years. Accounting for a likely position uncertainty of 100 m, 69% of all dens were located within year-specific modelled snowdrifts. These covered on average 1.8%, 2.1% and 24.7% of the three study islands, respectively. Our snowdrift model accurately predicted maternity den positions (R2= 0.42, area under the receiving operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.85). A model based on slope and altitude, also predicted den positions reasonably well (R2= 0.35, AUC = 0.88). Habitat maps identifying both current and future areas for maternity denning will become important in managing the Barents Sea population as well as other Arctic populations where changes in sea-ice conditions alter the accessibility to traditional denning areas. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Barents Sea Climate change Hopen Kongsøya Kongsøya Polar Research Sea ice Svalbard Svenskøya Ursus maritimus Hopen Polar Research (E-Journal) Arctic Barents Sea Hopen ENVELOPE(9.279,9.279,63.379,63.379) Svalbard Polar Research 39 0 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Polar Research (E-Journal) |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
topic |
Climate change reproduction SnowDens-3D snowdrift model terrain model topograpy |
spellingShingle |
Climate change reproduction SnowDens-3D snowdrift model terrain model topograpy Merkel, Benjamin Aars, Jon Liston, Glen E Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Climate change reproduction SnowDens-3D snowdrift model terrain model topograpy |
description |
We evaluated a novel tool that predicts possible maternity den habitat of the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) based on a physical snow transport model, a digital terrain model and weather data. We observed and compared den locations in three important denning areas in east Svalbard (Kongsøya,n= 288; Svenskøya,n= 86; Hopen,n= 115) with modelled snowdrift distributions for 24 years. Accounting for a likely position uncertainty of 100 m, 69% of all dens were located within year-specific modelled snowdrifts. These covered on average 1.8%, 2.1% and 24.7% of the three study islands, respectively. Our snowdrift model accurately predicted maternity den positions (R2= 0.42, area under the receiving operating characteristic curve [AUC] = 0.85). A model based on slope and altitude, also predicted den positions reasonably well (R2= 0.35, AUC = 0.88). Habitat maps identifying both current and future areas for maternity denning will become important in managing the Barents Sea population as well as other Arctic populations where changes in sea-ice conditions alter the accessibility to traditional denning areas. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Merkel, Benjamin Aars, Jon Liston, Glen E |
author_facet |
Merkel, Benjamin Aars, Jon Liston, Glen E |
author_sort |
Merkel, Benjamin |
title |
Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard |
title_short |
Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard |
title_full |
Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east Svalbard |
title_sort |
modelling polar bear maternity den habitat in east svalbard |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447 https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3447 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.279,9.279,63.379,63.379) |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea Hopen Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Hopen Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Barents Sea Climate change Hopen Kongsøya Kongsøya Polar Research Sea ice Svalbard Svenskøya Ursus maritimus Hopen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Climate change Hopen Kongsøya Kongsøya Polar Research Sea ice Svalbard Svenskøya Ursus maritimus Hopen |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol 39 (2020) 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10245 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10243 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10244 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10246 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447/10134 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/3447 doi:10.33265/polar.v39.3447 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.33265/polar.v39.3447 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
39 |
container_issue |
0 |
_version_ |
1766337316356358144 |