Southern Beaufort Sea Census
Dr. Ian Stirling attaches a radio collar to a tranquilized female polar bear in order to track her movements. Dr. Stirling has studied polar bears for 35 years and is member of PBI's Wild Bear Advisory Council. Click the image to enlarge.
PBI has assisted in funding a census of the Southern Beaufort Sea population of polar bears for the past three years. Dr. Ian Stirling of the Canadian Wildlife Service says that having a baseline of data on the population, which is shared by the U.S. and Canada, will help scientists determine the most appropriate management and conservation actions.
“We need to ensure that both the Inuit harvesting of polar bears and offshore environmental activities are conducted in a sustainable fashion,” Stirling says. “This objective can only be met if we have reliable data on the size of the respective populations, their reproductive and demographic parameters, and the trend in all those categories.”
Stirling adds that, at present, the only method that allows scientists to accurately determine those parameters is the mark-recapture method, supplemented with the radio-tracking of adult females for longitudinal reproductive information.
Dr. Steven C. Amstrup of the USGS Alaska Science Center is the team leader for the U.S. effort in the region. He notes that the Southern Beaufort Sea bears are among the most pelagic of any polar bears.
“The polar bears there historically seldom come to land,” he says. “Several other populations also fit this model. As we move forward in a world of changing climate, it is critical that we continue to monitor populations where we have good baselines and long data strings. It is only through understanding how the well-known populations are changing that we will be able to extrapolate to other, less well-known populations.”
“We need to ensure that both the Inuit harvesting of polar bears and offshore environmental activities are conducted in a sustainable fashion,” Stirling says. “This objective can only be met if we have reliable data on the size of the respective populations, their reproductive and demographic parameters, and the trend in all those categories.”
Stirling adds that, at present, the only method that allows scientists to accurately determine those parameters is the mark-recapture method, supplemented with the radio-tracking of adult females for longitudinal reproductive information.
Dr. Steven C. Amstrup of the USGS Alaska Science Center is the team leader for the U.S. effort in the region. He notes that the Southern Beaufort Sea bears are among the most pelagic of any polar bears.
“The polar bears there historically seldom come to land,” he says. “Several other populations also fit this model. As we move forward in a world of changing climate, it is critical that we continue to monitor populations where we have good baselines and long data strings. It is only through understanding how the well-known populations are changing that we will be able to extrapolate to other, less well-known populations.”
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