EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Polar Bear Expedition, Part II

"My glove.  Her paw.  My awe."
Polar Bear (Ursus maritimus), Family Ursidae
Beaufort Sea, Northern Alaska

Explanation:  Last week we began our amazing expedition onto the frozen Beaufort Sea off northern Alaska, accompanying US Geological Survey and University of Wyoming teams researching the biology of polar bears.  

I want to reiterate that no harm came to any of the bears during this research; they were very well cared for.  Adults were anesthetized with a dart, and then analyzed on the sea ice, only to awaken later and rejoin their regular lives.  

This week we continue the adventure and this special edition of Ecology Picture of the Week ... 

From our helicopter, we scan the sea ice below for the polar bear whose radio signal we are following.

The sea ice here is lined with pressure ridges, formed when floes collide or gaps refreeze. 

There, below, is an adult female polar bear.  If you look closely (click on the photo) you may see she has a cub.  

We can also identify the bears -- previously captured and evaluated -- by the number on the back (using a temporary dye).

My first close encounter.

Notice our transportation in the background.

We are perhaps a couple dozen miles out on the sea ice at this point.  With engines off, and wind died down, the silence is all-encompassing.

We are in the polar bears' domain, and now at least one big notch down on the food chain.

Humbling, to say the least... 

Setting up temporary field camp in the isolation of the Arctic Ocean.  

The tent is for shade as the University of Wyoming research team prepares their surgical equipment.

Displaying the ear tags that USGS researchers Dr. Steven Amstrup and Kristin Simac are about to apply to this female cub.

Taking a sample of polar bear breath!

The sample will be analyzed back in the lab for isotopes to assess body health.

Weighing Mom ... with block, tackle, a portable tripod stand, and an in-line scale.

Mom weighs 366 pounds.  Her cub weighed in at 63 pounds, quite a handful.  Other cubs of the year typically are 40 pounds or so, and other adult females (without cubs) that we weighed that day were 428 and 560 pounds.

So this Mom apparently is providing her cub with a substantial portion of her own body fat and energy.  She was lactating and nursing, as the cub was not yet old enough to hunt and fend for itself.  

Taking milk sample from the lactating adult female with the cub, for later lab analysis for contaminants.

Sample swabs were also taken from the nose, mouth, feces, and from between the toes ... the last of which under the theory that the scent-marking glands that are found in the foot pads might be useful samples for determining body condition or incidence of disease.

USGS researchers Dr. Steven Amstrup and Kristin Simac testing the new radio transmitter collar, after adjusting it for correct size.  One objective was to replace old collars.

Affixing the new radio collar.  A special switch on the collar allows it to unhook and drop off the bear after a specified number of days.  The collar sends signals to a satellite which can be picked up and mapped back in the lab.

The University of Wyoming research team preparing to excise a small sample of muscle and fat tissue from the right hind quarter for later lab analysis. 

Here, a biologist has shaven clean a small patch, and is now applying antiseptic before making the incision.

Making the incision to extract a small tissue sample.  This is done with exacting precision and in as antiseptic a manner as possible.

The wound will be stitched and will quickly heal over.

One of the final procedures ... applying an identification number on the back with a temporary dye.

Soon the bear will awaken, fully recover, and head back across the ice with cub in tow, in search of ringed seals and dinner.

My (large) boot ... by an even larger hind-paw print.
I left with great appreciation of the immensely challenging and
difficult work being done by these polar bear research teams ... 
for the awesome nature of the bears themselves ... and 
for the incredible isolation and beauty and fragility of their Arctic home.
 

  
Epilogue:  Our modeling analysis of climate change effects on
global habitats and populations of polar bears is beginning to
suggest that humans' additions to greenhouse gas concentrations
will continue to put most of the world's polar bears at risk ...
unless we all do much more to curtail production of
CO₂ and other such causes of global warming.
 
I am immensely grateful to the many polar bear researchers
and climatologists throughout the world who are providing
sound scientific data by which to inform and guide national policies.
 
I hope we all listen and heed the messages.

Acknowledgments:
     My deep appreciation to Dr. Steven Amstrup and Kristin Simac of US Geological Survey, Alaska Science Center (ASC), Anchorage, for arranging my field visit and allowing me to at least briefly participate in these research outings.  My thanks to USGS ASC for having invited me onto the project in 2007 to help model global polar bear populations into the future under climate change scenarios.  My thanks, too, to the University of Wyoming polar bear research team, also working out of Deadhorse, Alaska.