LOS ANGELES: The polar undergo populations are declining rapid as they are not able to catch enough prey to satisfy their power wishes due to local weather change, a find out about has found.
The find out about, published within the journal Science, printed that polar bears have higher metabolic charges than in the past concept, and the local weather change is affecting their environment for looking fat-rich prey.
Researchers were learning polar bears within the Beaufort Sea area since the 1980s.
Their most recent population estimate indicates the polar undergo population has declined by way of about 40 in line with cent during the last decade.
"We have been documenting declines in polar bear survival rates, body condition, and population numbers over the past decade," mentioned Anthony Pagano, from the University of California, Santa Cruz in the United States.
"This study identifies the mechanisms that are driving those declines by looking at the actual energy needs of polar bears and how often they are able to catch seals," Pagano mentioned.
The researchers monitored the behaviour, looking good fortune, and metabolic charges of grownup female polar bears with out cubs as they sought for prey on the sea ice of the Beaufort Sea, outlying sea of the Arctic Ocean, within the spring.
High-tech collars on the bears recorded video, locations, and task ranges over a duration of eight to 11 days, while metabolic tracers enabled the team to determine how much power the bears expended.
The box metabolic charges they measured averaged more than 50 in line with cent higher than earlier studies had predicted.
Five of the nine bears within the find out about lost frame mass, meaning they weren't catching enough fat-rich marine mammal prey to satisfy their power demands.
"This was at the start of the period from April through July when polar bears catch most of their prey and put on most of the body fat they need to sustain them throughout the year," Pagano mentioned.
Climate change is having dramatic effects on the Arctic sea ice, forcing polar bears to transport better distances and making it harder for them to catch prey.
In the Beaufort Sea, ice starts to retreat away from the continental shelf in July, and most of the bears move north on the ice as it retreats.
As the Arctic warms and extra sea ice melts, the bears are having to transport much better distances than in the past.
This causes them to deplete extra power all the way through the summer time, when they are fasting until the ice returns to the continental shelf within the fall.
In other spaces, equivalent to Hudson Bay, most bears move onto land when the ocean ice retreats. There, Arctic warming method the ocean ice is breaking apart earlier in the summertime and returning later within the fall, forcing bears to spend extra time on land.
"Either way, it's an issue of how much fat they can put on before the ice starts to break up, and then how much energy are they having to expend," Pagano mentioned.
The find out about, published within the journal Science, printed that polar bears have higher metabolic charges than in the past concept, and the local weather change is affecting their environment for looking fat-rich prey.
Researchers were learning polar bears within the Beaufort Sea area since the 1980s.
Their most recent population estimate indicates the polar undergo population has declined by way of about 40 in line with cent during the last decade.
"We have been documenting declines in polar bear survival rates, body condition, and population numbers over the past decade," mentioned Anthony Pagano, from the University of California, Santa Cruz in the United States.
"This study identifies the mechanisms that are driving those declines by looking at the actual energy needs of polar bears and how often they are able to catch seals," Pagano mentioned.
The researchers monitored the behaviour, looking good fortune, and metabolic charges of grownup female polar bears with out cubs as they sought for prey on the sea ice of the Beaufort Sea, outlying sea of the Arctic Ocean, within the spring.
High-tech collars on the bears recorded video, locations, and task ranges over a duration of eight to 11 days, while metabolic tracers enabled the team to determine how much power the bears expended.
The box metabolic charges they measured averaged more than 50 in line with cent higher than earlier studies had predicted.
Five of the nine bears within the find out about lost frame mass, meaning they weren't catching enough fat-rich marine mammal prey to satisfy their power demands.
"This was at the start of the period from April through July when polar bears catch most of their prey and put on most of the body fat they need to sustain them throughout the year," Pagano mentioned.
Climate change is having dramatic effects on the Arctic sea ice, forcing polar bears to transport better distances and making it harder for them to catch prey.
In the Beaufort Sea, ice starts to retreat away from the continental shelf in July, and most of the bears move north on the ice as it retreats.
As the Arctic warms and extra sea ice melts, the bears are having to transport much better distances than in the past.
This causes them to deplete extra power all the way through the summer time, when they are fasting until the ice returns to the continental shelf within the fall.
In other spaces, equivalent to Hudson Bay, most bears move onto land when the ocean ice retreats. There, Arctic warming method the ocean ice is breaking apart earlier in the summertime and returning later within the fall, forcing bears to spend extra time on land.
"Either way, it's an issue of how much fat they can put on before the ice starts to break up, and then how much energy are they having to expend," Pagano mentioned.
Polar bears starving due to climate change: Study
Reviewed by Kailash
on
February 02, 2018
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