The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea
This study was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment. TAM is grateful for partial support by Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UID/MAT/00006/2013. Polar bears hav...
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12440 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 |
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ftstandrewserep:oai:research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk:10023/12440 2023-07-02T03:31:34+02:00 The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea Aars, Jon Marques, Tiago A. Lone, Karen Andersen, Magnus Wiig, Øystein Fløystad, Ida Marie Bardalen Hagen, Snorre B. Buckland, Stephen T. University of St Andrews. School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute University of St Andrews. Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland University of St Andrews. St Andrews Sustainability Institute 2018-01-05T15:30:17Z 15 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12440 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 eng eng Polar Research Aars , J , Marques , T A , Lone , K , Andersen , M , Wiig , Ø , Fløystad , I M B , Hagen , S B & Buckland , S T 2017 , ' The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea ' , Polar Research , vol. 36 , 1374125 . https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 0800-0395 PURE: 251882477 PURE UUID: 097a03ae-2e02-4942-95d3-5c7e8f61155b WOS: 000416974500001 Scopus: 85043467555 ORCID: /0000-0002-2581-1972/work/56861286 ORCID: /0000-0002-9939-709X/work/73701072 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12440 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ursus maritimus Distance sampling Sea ice Habitat loss Svalbard Helicopter QH301 Biology NDAS QH301 Journal article 2018 ftstandrewserep https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 2023-06-13T18:28:57Z This study was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment. TAM is grateful for partial support by Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UID/MAT/00006/2013. Polar bears have experienced a rapid loss of sea-ice habitat in the Barents Sea. Monitoring this subpopulation focuses on the effects on polar bear demography. In August 2015, we conducted a survey in the Norwegian Arctic to estimate polar bear numbers and reveal population substructure. DNA profiles from biopsy samples and ear tags identified on photographs revealed that about half of the bears in Svalbard, compared to only 4.5% in the pack ice north of the archipelago, were recognized recaptures. The recaptured bears had originally been marked in Svalbard, mostly in spring. The existence of a local Svalbard stock, and another ecotype of bears using the pack ice in autumn with low likelihood of visiting Svalbard, support separate population size estimation for the two areas. Mainly by aerial survey line transect distance sampling methods, we estimated that 264 (95% CI = 199 - 363) bears were in Svalbard, close to 241 bears estimated for August 2004. The pack ice area had an estimated 709 bears (95% CI = 334 - 1026). The pack ice and the total (Svalbard + pack ice, 973 bears, 95% CI = 334 - 1026) both had higher estimates compared to August 2004 (444 and 685 bears, respectively), but the increase was not significant. There is no evidence that the fast reduction of sea-ice habitat in the area has yet led to a reduction in population size. The carrying capacity is likely reduced significantly, but recovery from earlier depletion up to 1973 may still be ongoing. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Barents Sea Polar Research Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard Polar Research 36 1 1374125 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of St Andrews: Digital Research Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftstandrewserep |
language |
English |
topic |
Ursus maritimus Distance sampling Sea ice Habitat loss Svalbard Helicopter QH301 Biology NDAS QH301 |
spellingShingle |
Ursus maritimus Distance sampling Sea ice Habitat loss Svalbard Helicopter QH301 Biology NDAS QH301 Aars, Jon Marques, Tiago A. Lone, Karen Andersen, Magnus Wiig, Øystein Fløystad, Ida Marie Bardalen Hagen, Snorre B. Buckland, Stephen T. The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea |
topic_facet |
Ursus maritimus Distance sampling Sea ice Habitat loss Svalbard Helicopter QH301 Biology NDAS QH301 |
description |
This study was funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Climate and the Environment. TAM is grateful for partial support by Centro de Estatística e Aplicações da Universidade de Lisboa, funded by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal, through the project UID/MAT/00006/2013. Polar bears have experienced a rapid loss of sea-ice habitat in the Barents Sea. Monitoring this subpopulation focuses on the effects on polar bear demography. In August 2015, we conducted a survey in the Norwegian Arctic to estimate polar bear numbers and reveal population substructure. DNA profiles from biopsy samples and ear tags identified on photographs revealed that about half of the bears in Svalbard, compared to only 4.5% in the pack ice north of the archipelago, were recognized recaptures. The recaptured bears had originally been marked in Svalbard, mostly in spring. The existence of a local Svalbard stock, and another ecotype of bears using the pack ice in autumn with low likelihood of visiting Svalbard, support separate population size estimation for the two areas. Mainly by aerial survey line transect distance sampling methods, we estimated that 264 (95% CI = 199 - 363) bears were in Svalbard, close to 241 bears estimated for August 2004. The pack ice area had an estimated 709 bears (95% CI = 334 - 1026). The pack ice and the total (Svalbard + pack ice, 973 bears, 95% CI = 334 - 1026) both had higher estimates compared to August 2004 (444 and 685 bears, respectively), but the increase was not significant. There is no evidence that the fast reduction of sea-ice habitat in the area has yet led to a reduction in population size. The carrying capacity is likely reduced significantly, but recovery from earlier depletion up to 1973 may still be ongoing. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed |
author2 |
University of St Andrews. School of Mathematics and Statistics University of St Andrews. Scottish Oceans Institute University of St Andrews. Centre for Research into Ecological & Environmental Modelling University of St Andrews. Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland University of St Andrews. St Andrews Sustainability Institute |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Aars, Jon Marques, Tiago A. Lone, Karen Andersen, Magnus Wiig, Øystein Fløystad, Ida Marie Bardalen Hagen, Snorre B. Buckland, Stephen T. |
author_facet |
Aars, Jon Marques, Tiago A. Lone, Karen Andersen, Magnus Wiig, Øystein Fløystad, Ida Marie Bardalen Hagen, Snorre B. Buckland, Stephen T. |
author_sort |
Aars, Jon |
title |
The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea |
title_short |
The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea |
title_full |
The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea |
title_fullStr |
The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea |
title_full_unstemmed |
The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea |
title_sort |
number and distribution of polar bears in the western barents sea |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12440 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 |
geographic |
Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Barents Sea Polar Research Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Arctic Barents Sea Polar Research Sea ice Svalbard Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
Polar Research Aars , J , Marques , T A , Lone , K , Andersen , M , Wiig , Ø , Fløystad , I M B , Hagen , S B & Buckland , S T 2017 , ' The number and distribution of polar bears in the western Barents Sea ' , Polar Research , vol. 36 , 1374125 . https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 0800-0395 PURE: 251882477 PURE UUID: 097a03ae-2e02-4942-95d3-5c7e8f61155b WOS: 000416974500001 Scopus: 85043467555 ORCID: /0000-0002-2581-1972/work/56861286 ORCID: /0000-0002-9939-709X/work/73701072 http://hdl.handle.net/10023/12440 https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 |
op_rights |
© 2017 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1080/17518369.2017.1374125 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
36 |
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1 |
container_start_page |
1374125 |
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1770270932069253120 |