This new study reveals how the melting sea ice is also affecting the seals, whales, and other creatures that are part of the ecosystem beneath the ice.
Satellite images show that the Arctic is losing sea ice, which polar bears use for roaming and hunting. “Understanding how polar bears respond to periods of reduced access to their primary prey, and consequently reduced dietary fat, helps us better understand the implications of Arctic warming on these predators while simultaneously shedding light on the status of their prey populations,” Rode said. Her team’s new study shows that when polar bears ate less fat from fewer ringed seals, they were less likely to survive the year. "Polar bears have evolved to specialize on a high fat diet composed primarily of seal blubber,” Karyn Rode, the lead author and a USGS research wildlife biologist, said. Blubber is highly digestible and provides twice the energy per gram compared to muscle.
Instead, they're finding fewer seals and eating more muscle, increasing their consumption of protein relative to fat. However, a new study shows that as the Arctic warms faster than any other part of the world, polar bears can't feast on blubber from multiple seals as they’re used to doing. So much fat that some researchers study them just to understand how a species that consumes a diet with up to 80% blubber avoids heart disease and obesity. In other words, their spiny exoskeleton is visible.Įxperts point out that echinoderms are a crucial part of the ocean food chain, since they also feast on seaweeds.įor a starfish, the star-shaped sea creature also consume sponge, in addition to the ones mentioned earlier.Polar bear diets should be filled with a lot of fat. These invertebrates are related to echinoderms like sea urchins, sea cucumbers, and sand dollars, according to the National Aquarium.Įchinoderms are characterized by scientists as marine animals known for their hard, blunted covering or skin. The sea star ( Asteroidea) is an invertebrate animal which can be found across the world's oceans, including the Arctic Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Pacific Ocean, and Southern Ocean. However, the past several years saw the decline on the natural habitats of polar bears due to climate change and global warming, forcing some to flee away from their Arctic home and settle into or near human territories such as in Canada and Greenland. maritimus needs to constantly eat prey, which also includes, the birds eiders, gulls, and murre. Male polar bears are larger than their female counterparts since they can weigh over 1,700 pounds, which is 400 pounds larger than female polar bears, according to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF).ĭue to their natural state of being large, U. They can grow approximately between seven to eight feet long. The polar bear ( Ursus maritimus) is a bear species with a conservation status of "threatened" despite its title as the largest carnivorous land mammals on Earth. The map found that the benthic part had many connections on its food chain similar to its pelagic counterpart, as summarized by Live Science.Īlso Read: Consequences of Climate Change: Polar Bear Population Shrinking Due to Arctic Sea Ice Melt Polar Bears The study was published in the journal PNAS in late December 2022, where researchers examined a coastal marine ecosystem in the Canadian Arctic and found that components within the benthic zone's food web had been significantly ignored.īefore arriving with their conclusion regarding the predatory sea stars, the team created a detailed map of the different food chains around Southampton Island, located in the mouth of Hudson Bay and in the Nunavut territory of Canada. (Photo : Photo by OLIVIER MORIN/AFP via Getty Images)Ī polar bear stands in the water as another one snorts after swimming behind a pod of beluga whales passing near the shoreline of the Hudson Bay near Churchill on August 9, 2022.
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