Given what you know about habitats and sea ice, how would you predict that polar bear populations are responding to a changing Arctic?
In this student page, you will explore the populations of the world’s 19 polar bear communities, all located in the Arctic.
Procedure:
Go to the Polar Bear Specialist Group “Polar bear population map,” available under Study Resources for Module 4 in the Investigate section of Logistics at PolarHusky.com. This map shows the 19 known populations of polar bears.
>> Find Greenland on the map, and the approximate location of Qaanaaq. The polar bear population of Qaanaaq is marked “KB” (for Kane Basin).
>> Roll your mouse over the Kane Basin group and read the information in the pop-up window.
>> Now click the Kane Basin population group. This will bring up a detailed description of the population’s status. Read the page, then answer the following questions: 1. What is the status of the Kane Basin polar bear population?
Student Page 4-6c
2. What is the date of the data used to make this assessment (this can be found at the bottom of the page)? What do you think has happened since then?