Daily Activity Budgets of Polar Bears in Response to Variation in Seasonal Sea Ice Condition

Project ID: G14AC00300

Federal Agency: U.S. Geological Survey

Partner Institution: Washington State University

Fiscal Year: 2014

Initial Funding: $64,995

Total Funding: $96,995

Project Type: Technical Assistance

Project Disciplines: Biological

Principal Investigator: Jansen, Heiko

Agreement Technical Representative: Rode, Karyn

Abstract: The goal of this project is to analyze one of the largest long-term activity datasets available for polar bears gathered by USGS scientists for seasonal and population-level changes in activity patterns. The data were obtained from female polar bears in the Chukchi and southern Beaufort Seas between 1980 and 2000’s.
The objectives of this study are to use activity sensor data to investigate the following questions:

1. Do polar bear activity levels differ for females that stay on land versus those that stay with the sea ice during the annual sea ice minimum? Is this pattern similar between females in the CS and SB?

2. Have seasonal patterns of activity changed over time with changing ice conditions? Do they differ between the CS and SB bears such that differences in energetic expenditure might explain some of the difference in body condition that has been observed?

3. What do seasonal and population-level differences and temporal patterns in activity patterns suggest about the possible effect of sea ice loss on polar bear energetics?