Aerial Surveys
Dr. Steven C. Amstrup of the U.S. Geological Survey's Alaska Science Center is a member of PBI's Wild Bear Advisory Council. Click the image to enlarge.
PBI has underwritten various initiatives over the years to help scientists better understand polar bears. Dr. Steven C. Amstrup says that there is “a burning research need” to determine the accuracy of aerial counts. The best way to test the accuracy, he says, is to conduct an aerial survey of the polar bear population along Western Hudson Bay. These results can then be compared with the in-depth capture and release work of Drs. Ian Stirling and Nick Lunn on the same population.
“Although aerial counts have been used extensively for some wildlife, their effectiveness with polar bears has yet to be demonstrated,” Amstrup says. “We currently have, for Western Hudson Bay polar bears, the best estimate of population size and trend for almost any large mammal. This is the result of the long term monitoring that has occurred there over the past 30 years and the recent intensive capture-recapture efforts. We can use that estimate of population size to test the accuracy of the aerial survey method.”
Amstrup notes that aerial surveys are quick and noninvasive. They would be useful for the future monitoring of the Western Hudson Bay polar bears and of other polar bear subpopulations that spend predictable periods on land.
“With climate warming going on, we may start to see increasing numbers of subpopulations that are stuck on land for periods of time, so the utility of such a method is likely only to expand in the future,” he says. “Before we start assessing bears through aerial surveys, though, we first need to verify that this method of enumeration really works. The Western Hudson Bay population gives us that opportunity.”
PBI is seeking membership donations in order to conduct this important study.
“Although aerial counts have been used extensively for some wildlife, their effectiveness with polar bears has yet to be demonstrated,” Amstrup says. “We currently have, for Western Hudson Bay polar bears, the best estimate of population size and trend for almost any large mammal. This is the result of the long term monitoring that has occurred there over the past 30 years and the recent intensive capture-recapture efforts. We can use that estimate of population size to test the accuracy of the aerial survey method.”
Amstrup notes that aerial surveys are quick and noninvasive. They would be useful for the future monitoring of the Western Hudson Bay polar bears and of other polar bear subpopulations that spend predictable periods on land.
“With climate warming going on, we may start to see increasing numbers of subpopulations that are stuck on land for periods of time, so the utility of such a method is likely only to expand in the future,” he says. “Before we start assessing bears through aerial surveys, though, we first need to verify that this method of enumeration really works. The Western Hudson Bay population gives us that opportunity.”
PBI is seeking membership donations in order to conduct this important study.
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