Critical Analysis of the Topic Polar Bears in Warming Climate

Critical Analysis of the Topic Polar Bears in Warming Climate
Name
Institution
Summary of the Topic
Polar bears which scientifically are referred to as Ursus maritimus are living in waters that are covered with ice in the circumpolar Arctic. Specifically near a shore that is covered with ice throughout the year, and it is important to note that the productivity of a polar bear is high near a shore. However, due to the tremendous climatic changes, experts have predicted that there are high chances that these sea ice habitats may be altered substantially in the near future. For instance, there have been spatial and temporal changes in the sea ice that have been predicted to cause trophic interactions that would involve polar bear species due to the reduction in the availability of their main prey which are seals. Stirling & Parkinson (2006) is of the opinion that in the short run, climatic warming may lead to the increase in the population of polar bears and seals as there will be improvement in the habitats on the higher latitudes through the continental shelves. This is because if the current thick multiyear ice is exchanged with a yearly ice that has extra leads, so that it becomes more favorable for the seals to survive on. Nevertheless, in the long climatic warming will have a series of impacts on the life of polar bears beginning with the reduction of sea ice that will be witnessed in the reduced adipose resulting into a decreased reproduction rate as females will be lacking enough fats to be invested in the cubs when fasting during winter. In addition to that, non-pregnant bears will be forced to go on a fasting period on the offshore or land on the multiyear ice that remained during continuous prolonged years of ice-free waters, as they are waiting for the freeze up season before resuming hunting of seals (Derocher, Lunn & Stirling, 2004).
Analysis of Polar Bears in Warming Climate
Life of a polar bear largely depends on the older pack ice that is stable and is found on the Arctic region. This is because the most important or fundamental characteristic of a polar bear is that they are very much pagophilic, meaning that they prefer living in water where they reproduce. Therefore anything that would interfere with or cause reduction in the sea ice will have a far reaching effect on the lives of bears. Most importantly to note is that there are various kinds of sea ice that if distributed between different depths and locations of water would greatly affect ecosystem of polar bears. For that reason, polar bears would find it hard to survive in another environment different from a place that has got annual sea ice that can only be found on the continental shelf that surrounds the polar basin. Nevertheless, according to the studies that were conducted in the recent past showed that there has been decrease in the multiyear sea ice for the past few decades because of climatic warming that has engulfed Polar Regions. Reduction in the amount of both multiyear and annual sea ice is projected to continue from the already reco...