Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 09/23/2009 - 09:48
Forums
Polar Bear Response to Sea Ice Loss

I WANTED TO NOE WHY DO WE NEED TO NOE ABOUT POLAR BEARS AND HOW WILL THEY AFFETCT WHAT WE HAVE GOING ON?????????????

Fri, 09/25/2009 - 14:15

Cristina Galvan

Hi Jessica,Excellent question - this will actually be one of the main focuses of my
journal entries. I encourage you to read along.
For now, I want you think about all the different types of organisms
that polar bears interact with. If the polar bear population is
affected, all those organisms will also be affected. It's sort of like
a domino affect - when one species is affected, there are actually many
that are impacted.
Keep reading and I'll go over more details in upcoming journals!
Thanks,
Ms Galvan

Wed, 09/30/2009 - 16:40

Cristina Galvan

This is a key question to the whole project. Besides the fact that they are cute and cuddly - polar bears are important for many reasons. Polar bears are what are known as an umbrella species; many organisms are connected to polar bears via a food web. For example, the Arctic Fox depends on the polar bear for food - they eat the left over seal carcass after the polar bear is done. Polar bears feed on seals, without the predator then the seal population might increase also affecting the fish that seals feed on - and so on. Another reason to care about the polar bears is the overall notion of biodiversity. Biodiversity refers to the number of different species. For example there are millions of different species of beetles. While it may not seem important to have so many types, each is a specialist in terms of food, habitat, behavior, etc. Each plays a role in ecosystems. A great analogy for this is an engine. If you pull one part out of an engine, but don't know what it is - you wouldn't just throw it away. You'd save it because maybe later you would understand it's importance and use.
Another reason there is so much focus on polar bears is because they get attention of the public. They serve as a sort of "ambassador" species for what's happening in the Arctic right now. They serve as a gauge to measure affects of climate change. I know there are lots of opinions on this, but hopefully this is just a start to get you thinking.
Thanks, Ms Galvan