I’ve re-read that paper, and I too don’t see where the ‘no jeopardy’ statement applies past the impact of lease sale 193. An extensive study was done, but what comment was made on the status of bears Arctic or Alaska wide?

Generally you can access all of the abstracts and some of the articles without subscriptions. Reading about polar bears in scientific articles, we learn that their populations were severely depressed by hunting in the 1960s but recovered since most hunting was stopped in 1972. There are now relatively large, healthy populations of polar bears. We can also learn that polar bears are highly dependent on the extent and quality of new sea ice for hunting success and body condition. Like other bears, polar bears are well-adapted to long periods of fasting, but also require periods of high food abundance. Bears (in general) cannot survive on berries and, unlike wolves, they are not well suited for hunting caribou.

The quality of sea ice varies seasonally, between years and between locations. Several studies show that body condition, growth and reproduction in polar bears are sensitive to this variation in sea ice. In the absence of sea ice, they give up on hunting seals and move on land. They have very poor success hunting in open water.

Stable carbon isotopes readily distinguish between land based and sea based food webs. Stable isotope analysis suggests that polar bears are losing weight on land (not including the possibility of feeding at garbage dumps near human settlements) and that growth and reproduction are dependent on a seal diet.

Thus, posts in this blog that suggest that polar bears can capture seals in open water, or that they can satisfy their nutritional needs by hunting on land are contrary to scientific evidence.

The scientific evidence is very clear that the future prospects of polar bears depends on the future quality, extent and seasonality of sea ice. If sea ice is maintained or recovers, polar bears will do well or at least ok. If sea ice resumes a decline, the outlook for polar bears is poor.

http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/ask-the-experts/population/

A seemingly reasonable response from a polar bear expert (reiterating some of the numbers widely spread around). It seems that when this expert is discussing their field of expertise, they indicate no conclusive evidence of polar bear decline or otherwise. Any declines seem to be from hunting/poaching rather than an environmental effect.

Basically, they don’t have enough information.

Unfortunately, the commentary drops into the obvious ‘all the polar bears are going to die because of global warming’ belief, with no evidence that their habitat is, in fact, declining. In addition, making a key point, no seals, no bears. Seal populations are influenced by many issues, not least of which is hunting. If there isn’t a balance between the human impact (simply by being there and eeking out a living) then something will give. Any changes can be attributed to a multitude of factors even if we had ‘zero climate change’.

We are all for looking after our environment, but there’s a big difference between climate change and the environment.

M

“He was borderline obese,” Regehr says. “He was a very fat bear for this time of the year. If you looked at him in profile, his belly almost scraped the ground, so he was a really fat good-looking bear, and in general most of the bears have appeared quite healthy.”

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103853438

Hmmm….sounds like life is tough out there on the arctic ice.

Odd that they didn’t bother to read this site

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103853438

My compliments sir, for a good post.

It is widely understood that Joggers are the natural prey of the Mountain Lion. When California voters made the hunting of Mountain Lions a violation of the state constitution, it was actually an effort to reduce the Jogger population.

(It has been reported-and it may be true, that the act of runing triggers the persuit/kill instinct of a Mountain Lion. Hence, if a Jogger were to stand still, the lion wouldn’t know quite how to kill a biped. On the other hand the Jogger is running so the lion goes for the kill anyway. Fortunately the species California Jogger wears only natural free range clothing so that the Mountain Lion won’t ingest harmful chemicals.)

It’s a shame about the pets and the children, though. They never voted for the bill and they carry no responsibility for what their parents did..

Oh well. You can’t make an omlet without breaking eggs.

(sarc off)

Seriously, a good post.

Regards,
Steamboat Jack

Very good. Here are some more.

Permanent El Nino:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/25433.stm

Fiji threatened:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/37816.stm

12 years on………

http://omnologos.wordpress.com/2008/09/03/polar-bears-has-the-daily-mail-just-pulled-a-deceiving-article/

I have written up the full story in Italian

http://www.svipop.org/sezioniTematicheArticolo.php?idArt=368

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/05/bear-hybrid-photo.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly–polar_bear_hybrid

The “species barrier” is more like a “mating speedbump” for most related species. Recent work on coyote and wolf populations has shown several types of wild canine to probably be various odd crosses. The red wolf, for example.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canid_hybrid

There are similar problems across most genera. (Cruciferous vegetables are notorious for this – Green Glaze collards being a cabbage/kale cross – and plum / prune / peach etc are pretty “loose” too. Oh, and citrus. The “tangelo” is a grapefruit tangerine hybrid…) Basically, most of the “barrier” seems to be physical location or behaviour isolation. Given contact and not much choice a lot of species will cross with “nearby relatives”… That’s part of how Darwin works…

This has caused certain “issues” for the application of the endangered species act… So is the Pizzly a new endangered species, or not?…

I don’t remember the whole story, but as a youth there was a joke that was used to educate us about the nature of bears that basically said something like:

An airplane crashed in the forest, and was found by bears.
Why did the pappa bear tell the cub that an airplane was like a Crab?

Because once you get the shell open, the insides are tender and tasty!

BTW, the “protect the mountain lion / cougar” law in California has now resulted in lots of pets becoming lunch… and in selected areas folks are encouraged not to leave small children playing outside in the yard. There was a local TV news story (east SF bay near Vallejo Mt. Diablo? somewhere up there) showing fearful folks with missing pets, goats, small farm animals,…

There have been mountain lions spotted overlooking jogging trails (near Palo Alto? Somewhere on the S.F. peninsula IIRC) and some mysterious disappearances have been suggested as perhaps lion related.

Eventually folks will discover that having a very intelligent very large and very hungry top predator expanding in population without limit is maybe not “good for children and other living things”…

For now, though, if you want to go hiking or camping and would prefer not to become “lunch” you can risk going to jail for any firearm you might carry, and if you actually use it, you will get lots of fines and more jail time.

The suggested solution? Shout and wave your arms. Honest. (They did suggest not running away due to the stimulating nature of that act… ) Pepper Spray is suggested to maybe work. Hope “kitty” doesn’t like chili meat…

When I was a kid, we were specifically instructed in the importance of taking a gun capable of stopping lion and bear into specific parts of the mountains. Now we’re instructed to take seasoning…

While the testimony Anthony cites is specific to the lease sale, the conclusions they make draw on their regional studies concerning the state of polar bears in the Arctic. Check the bottom of page four for a statement on the scientific work they are drawing on to conclude that there is no current threat to the US polar bear polulation, including the Chukchi Lease sale.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&as_qdr=all&q=polar+bear+eating+seal+puppy&btnG=Search