Each week, numerous news stories highlight the changes in the Arctic habitat initiated by global climate change. Typically, reports emphasize the rapid and dramatic changes that are occurring in this once remote part of our planet. Often, the reports discuss the impact of these changes on polar bears. I think we can all agree that it is hard to imagine an Arctic without polar bears. It is also clear that as the Arctic ecosystem changes rapidly, the potential impact on polar bears from other human activities is amplified.

Since 2005, Polar Bears International and animal care staff and researchers from the San Diego Zoo have been working together to better understand how human disturbance may impact polar bears. Our projects focus on the sensory ecology of polar bears, an area of polar bear biology that has been little studied over the years. Sensory ecology is an area of study that focuses on how animals’ senses allow them to interact dynamically with the environment and other animals. We are focusing on how polar bears communicate, both by sound and smell. Describing the fundamentals of these systems in polar bears will allow us to better understand how human activities and climate change may impact polar bears.

Humans can make a lot of noise! Sometimes, the noise we make can disrupt animal populations by inhibiting their ability to hear each other when they really need to or by stressing them to a point that their behavior and physiology are impacted negatively. Sometimes the noise we make bothers us more than it bothers them. In the end, the impact of our activities is best understood through systematic, scientific study. For the polar bear, an area of concern in recent years has been the noise associated with oil exploration and related activities on Alaska’s North Slope. The great concern centers around the fact that there are tremendous petroleum stores in the same area that is home to the one of the largest populations of land-based polar bear maternity dens in North America.

Our research into how noise impacts polar bears has three major components: How sensitive is polar bear hearing? How important is vocal communication to polar bears? What exactly does the noise produced by industrial activities in the Arctic look like and how well does it permeate polar bear dens?

We are about ¾ of the way through the data collection phase of our hearing study. Working closely with researchers at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, we are beginning to better understand just how sensitive polar bear ears are.

Next week, I’ll get into the nitty-gritty of what it takes to give a polar bear a hearing test.

Megan Owen is a conservation program specialist in the San Diego Zoo’s Applied Animal Ecology Division.

Posted in Default, Conservation, CRES (Conservation and Research for Endangered Species), General, Polar Bears | Link to this post

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