Polar Bear Environmental Impact

The Polar bear lives in the artic and uses the area’s costal waters and ice sheets. They are well equipped to live in this environment because they have a thick coat which serves as an insulator. They mainly prey on seals but have also been known to consume dead whales. They can grow to be 7.25 to 8 feet tall and can weigh around 900 to 1,600 pounds. Polar bears are a keystone species, if their numbers decrease there is a possibility that the seal populations will increase which could be devastating for crustaceans and fish. They help keep populations in balance.

The melting sea ice is also affecting the polar bear's main prey, seals, forcing the bears to turn to alternate, less nutritious food sources. Once sea ice forms in the winter, seals use the ice to create dens to give birth to their pups. In these months, polar bears use sea ice as their hunting grounds to find seal dens. Now that Seasonal Ice is forming later and melting earlier (IPCC, 2013), seals have less time to build dens and give birth. Consequently, polar bears have less time to hunt their preferred prey of seal pups. They must spend more time on land hunting other animals of less nutritional value. Organizations like Sea World Parks have reported male polar bears occasionally eating newly-born polar bear cubs because they cannot find other food to eat. Lack of nutritional food leads to a reduced body size. Polar bears are becoming thinner and weaker from not eating enough (Rode, Amstrup, & Regehr 2010). They have to swim longer distances to find ice to hunt upon, causing many cubs to die because they are not yet strong enough. In the Hudson Bay, the average polar bear weight has decreased by 15% and the population has decreased by 20% (National Wildlife Federation). In the summer when there is no ice, polar bears in the Hudson Bay go onto land to fast until the ice reforms. Now that ice is

The world is changing, well the environment is. For many years mankind has been finding ways to make Earth easier and liveable,therefore, we have been cutting down various trees, building houses and industries to make Earth more adaptable for humankind.These mass productions are polluting our environment due to the fact that carbon dioxide is being released to the atmosphere. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has had a very distructive consequence,Global warming.Global warming started around the 1880’s around 40 years after the Industrial Revolution in America.As a consequence of global warming the climate change on the Earth has had lethal impacts.Humankind has came up with ways to help control the amount of

Polar Bears rely upon sea ice for survival. They hunt on seals that are found on sea ice. Climate change and the atmospheric warming have caused the Arctic ice to melt, resulting in loss of habitats for polar bears. This essay will focus on how has climate change and increase in temperature affected the polar bears and what can we do about it.

Polar bears are one of the countless species who are endangered. They were one of the first animals affected by global warming and their population is heavily decreasing. Around 1980, the Arctic was as large as 8 million square kilometres. In 2011, studies show that the Arctic has reduced its size to 4.5 million square kilometers. In the future, will there be anything such as the Arctic? Scientist predict by 2040, only a fringe of ice will remain in Northeast Canada and Northern Greenland. This is known as the Last Ice Area. This matter is mostly taking part in Canada, since; Canada holds more than half the world’s polar bear population. Other affected countries include the U.S. (Alaska), Greenland,

Glacier retreat will greatly affect polar and aquatic ecosystems and animals. Most arctic life revolves around the sea and presence of sea ice. Without the presence of ice, most ecosystems will be recreated. Polar bears are one species in great danger. Polar bears use sea ice as a birthing and hunting ground, and also use it to travel from one place to another. As glaciers start to disappear, the mother polar bear has less access to food; therefore, the chance of survival for her and her young is very slim. The polar bears chance of reproduction becomes less as the glaciers retreat. As the top of the food chain, their decline will cause negative effects for each level below them (Review Diagram G). The only way for polar bears to survive, is by

Most of these animals need sea ice to give birth, feed or rest. Shifting to land in order to accomplish theses tasks tremendously affects the biology of many -the polar bear specifically, as noted by Walter Vetter and his team of scientists at the University of Hohenheim. The polar bears are becoming so thin that their fat reserves have shifted completely in order to concentrate on nourishing the brain, kidneys and liver. In light of the situation, scientists all over the world are urgently calling for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, urging us to think about these animals and to help in any way that we

The melting glaciers and ice caps will have, and in places are already having, major impacts on coastal and inland communities, cause social and economic upheavals, and greatly impact the diversity and distribution of species – not to mention changing the appearance of beloved landscapes. The Earth is hurting in the mountains of Eastern KY and WV, with mountaintop removal practices and the filling of hundreds of miles of headwaters with toxic sludge, and the disease and destruction brought to the lives of the people whose homes and heritage are found there. We see it hurting in the Amazon region, the world’s largest and most diverse forest, which is predicted to be 50% gone by 2050 – almost unimaginable.

The polar bears are losing sea ice for their habitation. Polar bears live in countries around the Arctic Circle, these areas included Canada, Alaska, Greenway, and Norway. There are 19 identified populations of polar bears living in four different sea ice regions across the Arctic. The Artic surrounds the North Pole however, the ice is melting and darkening of the artic. There is supporting evidence about air pollutions and how the greenhouse effect is affecting the polar bears environment. Polar bears will eventually only have one last stronghold left for them and even then, researchers do not know how long that one will even last. The last stronghold for them are small islands in the middle of Canada called the Artic Archipelago. This is

The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) is the biggest terrestrial mammal in the Arctic. He is also considered as an animal with a circumpolar or broad distribution in polar regions. The conservation status of bear remains problematic, according to the global warming that is happening now. If further managements are not implanted, polar bear population`s will disappear in the future. The polar bears live in the Arctic, an ocean surrounded by land. The Arctic has a very low species diversity and polar bears the first animal into the food chain. Also, the Arctic has cold winters which are not suitable for some aquatic species. With global warming and interglacial period, the ice and snow began to recede about 20.000 years ago. The rate of ice loss has

Biology Assessment – Evolution of polar bears from brown bears Evolution is defined as a gradual change to the same species overtime to benefit their survival in certain environmental conditions. Jean-Baptise Lamarck and Charles Darwin both had theories regarding evolution and how life on Earth got to be the way it is. Lamarck’s theory of acquired characteristics means he believed that the traits that altered over an individual’s lifetime could be transferred to its offspring. His theory is, that features can be strengthened or rid of completely through use or disuse over generations. For example, if an organism extensively used a certain body part, it would become larger and stronger to adapt to that environment.

Polar bears are one of so many animals that are going extinct . The polar bear is a bear who is a carnivorous whose native range lives in the Arctic Circle encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. The polar bear is going extinct for many reasons but the main reasons is that there is ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat because of climate change.According to WWF “Polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the US under the Endangered Species act in May 2008. The survival and the protection of the polar bear habitat are urgent issues.”

Polar Bears(Ursus maritimus) are going extinct due to loss of their habitat. Polar Bears live on sea ice in the Atlantic Ocean. Due to warmer climates, the ice is becoming harder to find for these Polar Bears. Polar Bears were listed as an endangered species in 2008 by the Endangered Species Act (7). Global warming is the cause of Polar Bear endangerment, and their genetic code is not able to evolve fast enough to cope with the changing environment. If fossil fuels were not being burned, then the Earth would be cooler (7). Many arctic wildlife is affected by the climate change such as the tiger (Panthera tigris), the Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus), and the Pacific Walrus (Odbenus rosmarus divergens).

Extant polar bears and brown bears are morphologically and genetically different species although with new mitochondrial DNA and fossil records and the ability to understand these findings it is evident that polar bears are a lineage of the Brown Bear (Ursus Arctos). Research indicates that polar bears evolved from the ancestral brown bear, and in this paper, I will discuss the history and discovery of polar bear evolution and how it will affect polar bears for the future with implications of climate change.

The earth is a beautiful and extraordinary planet, but are we treating it right? For the past 20 decades, temperatures have been rising along with hundreds of factors contributing to it. Climate change concerns the public as they wonder if its occurring, how much has occurred in the modern era, what has caused it, what the effects will be if we don’t do anything about it and much more. Many people and scientist agree that mankind is the number one cause of climate change. Humans have influenced this by greenhouse gases, methane nitrous oxide.