Climate Change and Polar Bears Paper

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Science

Description

Topic of paper: impact of global warming on polar bears


Instructions:

  1. Have a hypothesis or question that you are addressing (state in opening of the paper)
  2. Create a conceptual figure to demonstrate your study (graphs, charts, etc)
  3. Use at least 2 references from primary scientific literature (works cited page also required)


Requirement:

  1. 2 page paper
  2. Single spaced
  3. 11-12 font size Times New Roman
  4. 1 inch margins

Citation style: author and year format

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Explanation & Answer

Here you go, student. Let me know if you need any changes, and I truly apologize for the delay.

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[Author Name(s), First M. Last, Omit Titles and Degrees]
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[Title Here, up to 12 Words, on One to Two Lines]
Characterized for its all-white fur and its massive size, the Polar Bear (Ursus Maritimus)
is one of the most impressive predators of the North Pole. Because their populations are spread
across the Arctic circle, they have become one of the animal symbols for the cause against Climate
Change. This status is derived from the peculiar risk for polar ecosystems that a global warming
represents. Without the sea ice of the Arctic, after all, the species would be serious threatened
because of its dependence on it. In this region, though, the damages of a changing global climate
have already begun to be felt. A decrease in the amount of ice that is available in the summer
months, for instance, has already been noted in some parts of the Arctic. Its continuous loss could
cause a reduction in the habitat, a decrease in the food sources, and a disruption to the reproductive
dynamics of all the species that depend on it. As such, in the past two decades since the
vulnerability of the animal was first presented, some changes must have been felt among the Polar
Bear population of the Arctic. Have their numbers decreased, stayed the same, or somehow
increased in recent years? One would certainly expect a decline to be notable throughout the entire
population. This paper will explore the literature surrounding Climate Change’s impact on the
species, with the hope of answering this question.
Though bears are expected to be mostly terrestrial animals, the Polar Bear’s high
dependency on marine resources have resulted in its classification as a marine mammal (Lone et
al., 2018). The dependency is mostly nutritional in nature, as the Polar Bear finds most of its prey
in the water, which ranges from seals to belugas and narwhals (Lone et al., 2018). The sea ice of
the Arctic is imperative for their hunting. Most of the bears will spend most of their lives on it, but
even those that remain fixed on land will still rely on the sea ice to reach their prey (Wiig, et al.,
2008). Without the ice, reaching the needed prey can become a more taxing and challenging
process, even when considering the strong swimming abilities of the animal (Lone et al., 2018).
Furthermore, because the ice also serves as a road that the animals can transit when their hunting
and breeding areas are not within the same area (Lone et al., 2018), the loss of the ice could easily
impact the reproductive dynamics of the species. Mothers, for instance, tend to give birth to their
cubs in the mainland and will initially nurse the cubs with their fat reserves (Wiig, et al., 2008).
For their offspring and for their own sake, reaching hunting grounds as quickly as possible is
imperative for survival (Wiig et al., 2008). Again, the loss of this ice could make this process even
more difficult for the bears. Likewise, the mother’s ability to reach an area that is appropriate for
her denning period will also prove to be a problem for their numbers. In short, there is a strong
dependency of the bears on the sea ice in the Arctic, leading to reasonable concerns that its loss
could be a great threat for the animals.
Because of the dependent relationship of the Polar Bears and the sea-ice, some have
proposed that the full unravelment of Climate Change could lead to the population becoming
extinct (Wiig et al., 2008). Other estimates, on the other hand, put that a massive reduction of the
population — a loss of 30% — is to be expected throughout the century (Wiig et al., 2008). Some
populations of Polar Bears were already reported as being impacted by the changing climatic
conditions in the last decade, with at least two out of four subpopulations seeing decreases in their
population size (Stirling & Parkinson, 2006). Now, more than a decade later since these studies,
an even greater impact to the population is to be expected. Mainly, because the sea ice of the Arctic
has been reported as being in a continuous state of diminution in certain regions (Crockford, 2018).

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The same decrease in the availability in sea-ice is associated with the dwindling of those two
subpopulations in Canada, with the added claim that overharvesting is also a cause in this rapid
loss (Stirling & Parkinson, 2006). However, measuring the impact that more recent fluctuations in
climate has had on the global Polar Bear population can be challenging.
First, it should be noted that Polar Bears are spread out across 19 subpopulations. These
subpopulations are the Artic Basin (AB), Baffin Bay (BB), Barents Sea (BS), Chukchi Sea (CS),
Davis Strait (DS), East Greenland (EG), Fox Basin (FB), Gulf of Boothia (GB), Kane Basin (KB),
Kara Sea (KS), Laptev Sea (LV), Lancaster Sound (LS), M’Clintok Channel (MC), Northern
Beaufort (NB), Norwegian Bay (NW), Southern Beaufort (SB), Southern Hudson Bay (SH),
Viscount Melville (VM), and Western Hudson Bay (WH) (Brockford, 2018). Some of these areas
see a complete loss of sea ice during the summer, while others do not see a complete vanishing of
the ice (Brockford, 2018). As such, not all the bear populations could be deemed to be at the same
risk of impact from Global Cha...


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