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Polar Bear Media/Contacts Active

By Alaska Science Center June 29, 2018

If you have questions about research or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies.

Return to Media/Outreach or Polar Bear Research

We appreciate all the interest in the USGS research on Polar bears. You can find vidoes, news releases, USGS top stories and fact sheets on this page and under the news and publications tabs.

Polar Bear Videos

 

For more information regarding polar bears and polar bear research visit:

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: https://www.fws.gov/alaska/fisheries/mmm/polarbear/pbmain.htm

U.S. Geological Survey: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/asc/science/polar-bear-research

Polar Bears International: http://www.polarbearsinternational.org/

Below are other science projects associated with this project.

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Polar bear mother and two cubs on the Beaufort Sea ice.

Polar Bear Research

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are one of 4 marine mammal species managed by the U.S. Department of Interior. The USGS Alaska Science Center leads long–term research on polar bears to inform local, state, national and international policy makers regarding conservation of the species and its habitat. Our studies, ongoing since 1985, are focused on population dynamics, health and energetics...
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Land Management Research Program, Species Management Research Program, Alaska Science Center
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Polar Bear Research

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are one of 4 marine mammal species managed by the U.S. Department of Interior. The USGS Alaska Science Center leads long–term research on polar bears to inform local, state, national and international policy makers regarding conservation of the species and its habitat. Our studies, ongoing since 1985, are focused on population dynamics, health and energetics...
Learn More
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USGS Alaska Science Center sign

Media/Outreach at the Alaska Science Center

If you have questions about upcoming events, research, or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies.

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Media/Outreach at the Alaska Science Center

If you have questions about upcoming events, research, or media inquiries regarding the USGS Alaska Science Center please contact Yvette Gillies.

Learn More

Below are multimedia items associated with this project.

Filter Total Items: 37
Polar bear on ice with text reading 2022 Polar Bear Research Masterplan link
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Scientist checking vitals on polar bear on the Chukchi Sea
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Adult Male polar bear walking towards seal on frozen landscape. Footprints are visible in the snow.
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Image: Two Swimming Polar Bears
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Female and cub polar bear on land near Kaktovik, Alaska
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Scientist examines polar bear on sea ice in the Chukchi Sea, Alaska
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An adult female polar bear on the sea ice wearing a GPS satellite video-camera collar
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Large polar bear being weighed by Anthony Pagano and Todd Atwood
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An open water lead in the sea ice with blowing snow portrait view
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An open water lead in the sea ice with blowing snow landscape view
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Open water, sea ice, and pressure ridges in the Beaufort Sea
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Lone seal on broken sea ice in the Beaufort Sea
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An open water lead in the sea ice as seen from a helicopter
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Measuring the size of the area of hair loss on the neck of an anesthetized polar bear
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A polar bear walks across rubble ice in the Alaska portion of the southern Beaufort Sea
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George Durner and Jennifer Wiley working on an anesthetized polar bear
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Below are publications associated with USGS Alaska Science Center Polar Bear Research.

Survival and abundance of polar bears in Alaska’s Beaufort Sea, 2001–2016

The Arctic Ocean is undergoing rapid transformation toward a seasonally ice-free ecosystem. As ice-adapted apex predators, polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are challenged to cope with ongoing habitat degradation and changes in their prey base driven by food-web response to climate warming. Knowledge of polar bear response to environmental change is necessary to understand ecosystem dynamics and infor
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Energetic and health effects of protein overconsumption constrain dietary adaptation in an apex predator

Studies of predator feeding ecology commonly focus on energy intake. However, captive predators have been documented to selectively feed to optimize macronutrient intake. As many apex predators experience environmental changes that affect prey availability, limitations on selective feeding can affect energetics and health. We estimated the protein:fat ratio of diets consumed by wild polar bears us
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center, Fort Collins Science Center

Measuring adrenal and reproductive hormones in hair from southern Beaufort Sea polar bears (Ursus maritimus)

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) use sea ice to access marine mammal prey. In Alaska’s Southern Beaufort Sea, the declining availability of sea ice habitat in summer and fall has reduced opportunities for polar bears to routinely hunt on the ice for seals, their primary prey. This reduced access to prey may result in physiological stress with subsequent potential consequences to reproductive function
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Seal body condition and atmospheric circulation patterns influence polar bear body condition, recruitment, and feeding ecology in the Chukchi Sea

Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are experiencing loss of sea ice habitats used to access their marine mammal prey. Simultaneously, ocean warming is changing ecosystems that support marine mammal populations. The interactive effects of sea ice and prey are not well understood yet may explain spatial‐temporal variation in the response of polar bears to sea ice loss. Here, we examined the potential com
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Changing Arctic Ecosystems: Updated forecast: Reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions required to improve polar bear outlook

The Arctic is warming faster than other regions of the world due to the loss of snow and ice, which increases the amount of solar energy absorbed by the region. The most visible consequence has been the rapid decline in sea ice over the last 3 decades-a decline projected to bring long ice-free summers if greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are not significantly reduced. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus)
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Polar bear and walrus response to the rapid decline in Arctic sea ice

The Arctic is warming faster than other regions of the world due to positive climate feedbacks associated with loss of snow and ice. One highly visible consequence has been a rapid decline in Arctic sea ice over the past 3 decades - a decline projected to continue and result in ice-free summers likely as soon as 2030. The polar bear (Ursus maritimus) and the Pacific walrus (Odobenus rosmarus diver
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Alaska Science Center

Changing Arctic ecosystems--research to understand and project changes in marine and terrestrial ecosystems of the Arctic

Ecosystems and their wildlife communities are not static; they change and evolve over time due to numerous intrinsic and extrinsic factors. A period of rapid change is occurring in the Arctic for which our current understanding of potential ecosystem and wildlife responses is limited. Changes to the physical environment include warming temperatures, diminishing sea ice, increasing coastal erosion,
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Ecosystems Mission Area, Wildlife Program (unpublished), Alaska Science Center

Below are news stories associated with this project.

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Increased Sea Ice Drift Puts Polar Bears on Faster Moving Treadmill

A new study led by the U.S. Geological Survey and the University of Wyoming found that increased westward ice drift in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas...

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Polar Bear Outlook Favorable Under Certain Scenarios

“The scenarios predicted by our models are encouraging in that there are clear actions that humans can take to improve the chances that healthy polar...

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How Climate Change Might Affect Polar Bears' Bodies

You really are what you eat. That’s the taking-off point for a new polar bear study, conducted by U.S. Geological Survey researchers with an assist...

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Greenhouse Gas Emissions Remain the Primary Threat to Polar Bears

Greenhouse gas emissions remain the primary threat to the preservation of polar bear populations worldwide. This conclusion holds true under both a...

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What’s on the Menu for Arctic Polar Bears?

Twenty years ago, biologists could pretty much describe a polar bear’s diet in two words: ringed seals.

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Polar Bears Shifting to Areas with More Sea Ice — Genetic Study Reveals

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — In a new polar bear study published today, scientists from around the Arctic have shown that recent generations of polar bears are...

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New Scientific Study Supports that Capture-based Research is Safe for Polar Bears

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A polar bear capture and release-based research program had no adverse long-term effects on feeding behavior, body condition, and...

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Southern Beaufort Sea Polar Bear Population Declined in the 2000s

In a new polar bear study published today, scientists from the United States and Canada found that during the first decade of the 21st century, the...

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Observing Polar Bears from Space

Monitoring wildlife in the Arctic is difficult. Study areas are cold, barren and often inaccessible. For decades scientists have struggled to study...

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Through the Eyes of a Polar Bear

The first "point of view" video from a polar bear on Arctic sea ice has just become available courtesy of the U.S. Geological Survey. 

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