Danish scientists from the University of Copenhagen have discovered when polar bear populations in the Arctic began to decline due to climate change. It turned out that warming seas began to affect the lives of predators in the north 20 thousand years ago. The study was published in the scientific journal magazine Science Developments.
“What is driving the decline in polar bear populations is rising sea temperatures. When sea temperatures rise, there is less sea ice and therefore fewer seals for these animals to feed on,” explained Michael Westbury, lead author of the study.
Scientists used two independent data sets and methods to examine the history of polar bear populations and estimate the animals’ genetic diversity over the last two tens of thousands of years.
What surprised scientists most was that even small changes in the environment had a significant impact on polar bears. According to scientific studies, water temperatures in the seas around Greenland have increased by 0.2-0.5 °C in the last 20 thousand years, causing the polar bear population to decrease by 20-40%.
“Looking into the future, we can see that sea temperatures around Greenland have the potential to increase by 2-5°C. That’s a 10-fold increase in temperature changes compared to the last 20,000 years. This doesn’t look good for a polar bear. It’s at the top of the food chain.” polar bears impact entire ecosystems in the Arctic,” adds Elin Lorenzen.
Previous scientists I learnedthat polar bears sought refuge in Siberia during previous global warming.