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How Do Polar Bears Affect Climate Change

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Management Intervention For Polar Bears

The affect climate change has on polar bears has been a hot topic for the past 10-15 years, and for good reason. Global warming has been causing ice to melt at an alarming rate, from 1979 to 2009 the amount of perennial sea ice in the artic has declined at an average rate of 11.3% per a decade (Hunter). In 2008, Polar bears were even listed as a threatened species in the U.S. Endangered Species Act. This decrease in ice has caused a substantial decrease in population growth for Polar Bears. In 2001 when there were only 90 days where the mean ice concentration was less than a threshold of 50% and the growth rate (lambda) was 1.059 but in 2005 when there were 134 days with less than 50% ice the growth rate was .799, which is a declining population (Hunter). As days with less ice go up, the growth rate of polar bears is going down. …show more content…
Females reach reproductive maturity in their fourth or fifth year and give birth in their fifth or sixth year to 1-3 cubs. Cubs remain dependent on their mothers from birth until the spring of their second year (Stirling). Polar bears depend on ice for feeding, breeding, and movement. In the beginning of winter a female will dig a den and begin gestation, coming out of their den in early spring with their cub(s). If a mother is able to replenish her fat reserves that she lives off of while denning she will be able to produce cubs that survive until weaning every 3 years (Hunter). But with less food being available then the mothers cannot store as much fat to use as energy and the time between litters grows longer and litter sizes are smaller since she cannot provide for them as

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