Page 30 - Microsoft Word - geo class task.docx

Ian Stirling, an adjunct professor at the University of Alberta who has studied polar bears for four
decades. Stirling works as an ecotourism guide in Svalbard and has seen the sharp decline in
summer ice cover, as well as an increase in sightings of skinny bears coming onshore.

In his post accompanying the photo on Instagram, Nicklen wrote that this was just one of
several dead bears he observed in that location in 2014.

"We did find two dead bears in this location and other groups found more dead bears. These
bears were so skinny, they appeared to have died of starvation, as in the absence of sea ice,
they were not able to hunt seals. In all of my years of growing up in the Arctic and later, working
as a biologist, I had never found a dead polar bear. It is now becoming much more common," he
wrote.

This rapid decline in polar bear populations will have/ is currently having severe knock-on
effects. The food chain begins with algae and other tiny organisms that live on and within the
sea ice. Arctic cod feed on them. Seals eat Arctic cod. And polar bears prey on seals. It's critical
to protect this ecosystem that many animals depend on.

How we would Protect the Ecosystem:

1) Create a network of protected areas across the Arctic Ocean, including an Arctic Sanctuary in
the uninhabited waters around the North Pole.