Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities?
Increased land use by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) due to climate‐change‐induced reduction of their sea‐ice habitat illustrates the impact of climate change on species distributions and the difficulty of conserving a large, highly specialized carnivore in the face of this global threat. Some author...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 |
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ftzenodo:oai:zenodo.org:1236393 2024-09-15T18:34:52+00:00 Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? Rode, Karyn D. Robbins, Charles T. Nelson, Lynne Amstrup, Steven C. 2015-04-01 https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 unknown Zenodo https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 oai:zenodo.org:1236393 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode info:eu-repo/semantics/article 2015 ftzenodo https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 2024-07-25T22:03:14Z Increased land use by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) due to climate‐change‐induced reduction of their sea‐ice habitat illustrates the impact of climate change on species distributions and the difficulty of conserving a large, highly specialized carnivore in the face of this global threat. Some authors have suggested that terrestrial food consumption by polar bears will help them withstand sea‐ice loss as they are forced to spend increasing amounts of time on land. Here, we evaluate the nutritional needs of polar bears as well as the physiological and environmental constraints that shape their use of terrestrial ecosystems. Only small numbers of polar bears have been documented consuming terrestrial foods even in modest quantities. Over much of the polar bear's range, limited terrestrial food availability supports only low densities of much smaller, resident brown bears (Ursus arctos), which use low‐quality resources more efficiently and may compete with polar bears in these areas. Where consumption of terrestrial foods has been documented, polar bear body condition and survival rates have declined even as land use has increased. Thus far, observed consumption of terrestrial food by polar bears has been insufficient to offset lost ice‐based hunting opportunities but can have ecological consequences for other species. Warming‐induced loss of sea ice remains the primary threat faced by polar bears. Article in Journal/Newspaper Sea ice Ursus arctos Ursus maritimus Zenodo Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 13 3 138 145 |
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Open Polar |
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Zenodo |
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ftzenodo |
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Increased land use by polar bears (Ursus maritimus) due to climate‐change‐induced reduction of their sea‐ice habitat illustrates the impact of climate change on species distributions and the difficulty of conserving a large, highly specialized carnivore in the face of this global threat. Some authors have suggested that terrestrial food consumption by polar bears will help them withstand sea‐ice loss as they are forced to spend increasing amounts of time on land. Here, we evaluate the nutritional needs of polar bears as well as the physiological and environmental constraints that shape their use of terrestrial ecosystems. Only small numbers of polar bears have been documented consuming terrestrial foods even in modest quantities. Over much of the polar bear's range, limited terrestrial food availability supports only low densities of much smaller, resident brown bears (Ursus arctos), which use low‐quality resources more efficiently and may compete with polar bears in these areas. Where consumption of terrestrial foods has been documented, polar bear body condition and survival rates have declined even as land use has increased. Thus far, observed consumption of terrestrial food by polar bears has been insufficient to offset lost ice‐based hunting opportunities but can have ecological consequences for other species. Warming‐induced loss of sea ice remains the primary threat faced by polar bears. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Rode, Karyn D. Robbins, Charles T. Nelson, Lynne Amstrup, Steven C. |
spellingShingle |
Rode, Karyn D. Robbins, Charles T. Nelson, Lynne Amstrup, Steven C. Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
author_facet |
Rode, Karyn D. Robbins, Charles T. Nelson, Lynne Amstrup, Steven C. |
author_sort |
Rode, Karyn D. |
title |
Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
title_short |
Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
title_full |
Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
title_fullStr |
Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
title_sort |
can polar bears use terrestrial foods to offset lost ice-based hunting opportunities? |
publisher |
Zenodo |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 |
genre |
Sea ice Ursus arctos Ursus maritimus |
genre_facet |
Sea ice Ursus arctos Ursus maritimus |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 oai:zenodo.org:1236393 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1890/140202 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
138 |
op_container_end_page |
145 |
_version_ |
1810476935135887360 |