This particularly affects the marine ice sheets located near the two global poles and along the coasts of Alaska. Will polar bears make the leap into the next century? Amstrupâs own 2010 study projected that continued decline in sea ice would reduce the global population of bears by two thirds, to less than 10,000 by 2050. The ice loss from Greenland and Antarctica is … His most recent book, The Shark Handbook, is a must buy for all shark enthusiasts. Even today, in the middle of the bitter cold Arctic winter, satellites show there is about 770,000 square miles less sea ice than the 1981 to 2010 median (That's an area larger than Alaska and California combined). Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are the poster child for the impacts of climate change on species, and justifiably so. “You could see the expressions on the faces of the audience change as the presentation went on and they became aware of the severity of the situation.”. The polar ice caps have begun to melt at an alarming rate within the past twenty years. âItâs a really strong study,â said Steven Amstrup, chief scientist for Polar Bears International, a conservation-focused organization, who was not involved with the work. The polar bears are especially threatened. The arctic conditions they evolved to master are … Examples of these animals are the seals and the polar bears. The long legal process to be considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act began in 2005, when the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) filed a petition with the U.S. Simply put, if there isn’t enough sea ice, seals can’t haul out on the ice, and polar bears can’t continue to hunt. The bears spend their winters and springs roaming and hunting on the ice. Theyâre not efficient walkers, but thanks to their high-energy diet of seals they can roam an area as large as 95,000 square miles, Derocher said in an interview. Many of the opponents invoked uncertainty as their main criticism. If Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne decides to designate polar bears as threatened, critical habitat areas could be designated in the future, and federal and state agencies would be prohibited from authorizing, funding, or carrying out actions that “destroy or adversely modify” critical habitats of the species—which could include permitting of mining and drilling operations. Kirstin is currently Principal Investigator for an interdisciplinary project on shipwrecks in Stellwagen National Marine Sanctuary, including the steamship Portland, often termed “New England’s Titanic.” This project uses cutting-edge technology to construct 3D photogrammetric models of the Portland and other wrecks for archaeological and biological research and resource management. Effects on Biome- the endangerment isn't having a bad effect on the arctic environment because they don't have predators. Dr. Gregory Skomal is an accomplished marine biologist, underwater explorer, photographer, and author. Thereâs no doubt that as the sea ice declines more and more bears are going to starve to death, said Amstrup. This bear even leapt into the sea in a failed attempt to catch a seal swimming by. As the Arctic Ocean became more ice-free over more summer days in 2004 and 2005, polar bear breeding and survival declined below the point needed to maintain the population, the team found. To feed themselves and their cubs, they rely on sea ice for platforms to hunt for their main source of food: seals. Climate change is heating up the Arctic faster than anywhere else, and sea ice is shrinking 14 percent per decade. As the ice caps and sea ice melt because of climate change, the polar bears have fewer places to roam, feed, and provide a shelter for themselves. He has written dozens of scientific research papers and has appeared in a number of film and television documentaries, including programs for National Geographic, Discovery Channel, BBC, and numerous television networks. The study concluded that melting Arctic ice is a critical threat to the bears’ survival. In the southern portions of these animals’ habitat’s range, such as Hudson Bay, Canada, there is no sea ice during the summer, and they must live on land until the bay freezes in the fall, where they can hunt on the ice again. Polar bears need ice as a platform to hunt for their main food source: seals. They emerge from their dens, with the new cubs, in the spring to hunt seals from floating sea ice. Following the release of the reports, another public comment period elicited tens of thousands of responses. Images of emaciated polar bears floating on small ice blocks in the arctic sea represent some of the more radical effects polar ice melt has on wildlife. Melting Ice, Rising Seas Travel to the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet to find out what could happen if global warming melts it and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. “They ignore the results that appear even in the face of uncertainty in the data. And yet they are uniquely vulnerable in their almost total reliance on one prey species. Recent studies project that if Arctic sea ice continues to disappear, so will the polar bear in much of its current range. Williams and her crewmates are working closely with Boeing to develop their new spacecraft systems, which will provide roundtrip crew transportation services to the International Space Station and, along with SpaceX’s CrewDragon, return the ability to launch humans into space from United States soil. To find food, polar bears are traveling to places they don't normally go. The bears don’t reproduce until they are five or six years old. ”. Inuits in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing reduced hunting seasons because of increased early spring ice … Even if the ice caps were to be melting slower than usual, this is not a sigh of relief in saying that all is well and that humans should ignore the melting polar ice caps along with all the many other effects of climate change.. Then the bear bites it on the neck and drags it onto the ice. Thatâs why the melting of the Arctic sea ice threatens polar bear survival. The frequency of “bad-ice” years is critical: If they occur too often (more often than once every six years or so), the bear population shrinks, the scientists said. Another of the effects of polar ice caps melting is the general warming of the planet. Supporters of adding polar bears to the list of threatened species included the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission, and 51 members of Congress. 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