Shifting polar bear Ursus maritimus denning habitat availability in the European Arctic

Merkel, Benjamin; Aars, Jon

doi:10.1007/s00300-022-03016-5

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Our study also shows that kills have been most common in near shore areas, and that some areas are likely to see higher incident rates than others. Core denning areas, which would be areas of expected high density use, are moving north and east due to a change in the timing of sea ice arrival (Merkel and Aars, 2022). Areas where we have seen a historic high density of polar bear use, e.g., tracks in the Hornsund fjord area, might still be areas where we should expect a high number of interactions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating Polar Bears Killed, Human Presence, and Ice Conditions in Svalbard 1987 – 2019

Vongraven

Amstrup²,

McDonald³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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Conflicts between humans and polar bears have been predicted to increase as polar bear prime habitat, sea ice, is decreasing. In Svalbard, a strong protection and strict control schemes have secured near complete records of bears killed and found dead since 1987. We analyzed the trend in the number of kills and related this to human visitation to the island. We found a slight decrease in the number of kills in the period 1987-2019, and a decrease in per capita number of kills when monthly kills were compared to the monthly number of visitors disembarking in the main settlement. We then used a discrete choice resource selection model to assess whether polar bear kill events are related to attributes of the kill sites and environmental conditions at the time. We divided Svalbard in four sectors, North, East, South, and West, and monthly average ice cover was calculated in 25-km rings around Svalbard, rings that were further delineated by the four sectors. We found that the odds of a kill was greater along the shoreline, and that the odds would be reduced by 50% when moving only 900 m from the shoreline when all sectors were included. Distance from other covariates like settlements, trapper's cabins, and landing sites for tourists did for the most part not have a significant impact on the odds of a kill. Sectorwise, ice cover had no significant impact on the odds for a kill. The decreasing trend in kills of polar bears might partly be explained by the success of strict protection and management regimes of Svalbard wilderness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating Polar Bears Killed, Human Presence, and Ice Conditions in Svalbard 1987 – 2019

Vongraven

Amstrup²,

McDonald³

et al. 2023

Preprint

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“…The list of attractions and the spatial and temporal links created between attractions and the supporting ecological parameters act as a building block to assess the impacts of climate change on specific attractions across space or time horizons using changes in land cover as a proxy. For instance, if Merkel and Aars (2022) had integrated the impact of the drastic loss of sea ice and the distribution of the Polar bear (the key attraction in the Arctic) with tourism, the study would have been instrumental to tourism planners’ adaptation strategies in the Arctic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Eco‐parcel: An approach to identify and describe attractions to support adapting nature‐based tourism destinations to climate‐change impacts

Kilungu,

Munishi

2023

Afr J Ecol

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Informing climate‐change adaptation measures for nature‐based tourism destinations is contingent on understanding how individual attractions respond to the impact of climate change. There is, however, no evidence of the existence of specific approaches for linking individual attractions to climate change. The eco‐parcel approach is therefore devised to address the gap. The approach follows three simple steps: (1) identifying and defining individual tourist attractions (2) describing and creating a link between individual attractions and their supporting ecosystems using land cover as a proxy; (3) assessing the importance of discrete landscape patches (eco‐parcels) for tourism. The three steps employ literature reviews, tourists' preference surveys and GIS data collection techniques. The operationalisation of the approach in Tanzanian Serengeti and Kilimanjaro National parks case studies shows that the approach is capable of establishing a list of attractions that a destination has and creating spatial–temporal links between attractions and their supporting ecosystems. In conclusion, the eco‐parcel approach allows accurate assessment of the likely losses or gains of individual attractions in the event of climate change, providing information on destination‐specific climate adaptation strategies and, thus, a useful tool for adapting NBT to climate‐change impacts.

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“…Greater habitat fragmentation has increased polar bear path tortuosity [ 9 ], more open water has increased the frequency of long-distance swimming events [ 105 , 115 ], and increased ice drift speed has increased the cost of station-keeping [ 5 , 34 , 90 ]. Further, polar bears have exhibited shifts in distribution [ 85 ], reduced access to prey [ 45 , 147 , 160 ], a longer fasting period [ 127 ], increased exposure to zoonotic pathogens [ 116 ], higher levels of cortisol [ 13 ], reduced body condition [ 127 , 144 ], reduced access to denning habitat [ 96 , 127 ], reduced reproduction [ 146 ], and consequently reduced abundance in several populations [ 14 , 87 , 101 , 123 , 124 ]. The ecological effects of climate change on polar bears are population specific.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Drivers of polar bear behavior and the possible effects of prey availability on foraging strategy

et al. 2022

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Background Change in behavior is one of the earliest responses to variation in habitat suitability. It is therefore important to understand the conditions that promote different behaviors, particularly in areas undergoing environmental change. Animal movement is tightly linked to behavior and remote tracking can be used to study ethology when direct observation is not possible. Methods We used movement data from 14 polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Hudson Bay, Canada, during the foraging season (January–June), when bears inhabit the sea ice. We developed an error-tolerant method to correct for sea ice drift in tracking data. Next, we used hidden Markov models with movement and orientation relative to wind to study three behaviors (stationary, area-restricted search, and olfactory search) and examine effects of 11 covariates on behavior. Results Polar bears spent approximately 47% of their time in the stationary drift state, 29% in olfactory search, and 24% in area-restricted search. High energy behaviors occurred later in the day (around 20:00) compared to other populations. Second, olfactory search increased as the season progressed, which may reflect a shift in foraging strategy from still-hunting to active search linked to a shift in seal availability (i.e., increase in haul-outs from winter to the spring pupping and molting seasons). Last, we found spatial patterns of distribution linked to season, ice concentration, and bear age that may be tied to habitat quality and competitive exclusion. Conclusions Our observations were generally consistent with predictions of the marginal value theorem, and differences between our findings and other populations could be explained by regional or temporal variation in resource availability. Our novel movement analyses and finding can help identify periods, regions, and conditions of critical habitat.

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Shifting polar bear Ursus maritimus denning habitat availability in the European Arctic

Cited by 7 publications

References 46 publications

Relating Polar Bears Killed, Human Presence, and Ice Conditions in Svalbard 1987 – 2019

Relating Polar Bears Killed, Human Presence, and Ice Conditions in Svalbard 1987 – 2019

Eco‐parcel: An approach to identify and describe attractions to support adapting nature‐based tourism destinations to climate‐change impacts

Drivers of polar bear behavior and the possible effects of prey availability on foraging strategy

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