Distinct gut microbiomes in two polar bear subpopulations inhabiting different sea ice ecoregions

• Published in: Scientific Reports
• Main Authors: Franz, Megan, Whyte, Lyle, Atwood, Todd C., Laidre, Kristin L., Roy, Denis, Watson, Sophie E., Góngora, Esteban, McKinney, Melissa A.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Nature Publishing Group UK 2022
• Subjects: Article; Bears Gut; Greenland; Beaufort Sea; East Greenland; Sea ice; Ursus maritimus
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8752607/; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-04340-2

Gut microbiomes were analyzed by 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding for polar bears (Ursus maritimus) from the southern Beaufort Sea (SB), where sea ice loss has led to increased use of land-based food resources by bears, and from East Greenland (EG), where persistent sea ice has allowed hunting of ice-ass...