USGS Alaska Science Center Polar Bear Research Program

The USGS Alaska Science Center leads long–term research on polar bears to inform local, state, national and international policy makers regarding conservation of the species and its habitat. This video provides an overview of the polar bear research program, ongoing since 1985, that focuses on population dynamics, health and energetics, distribution and movements, maternal denning, and methods development. The majority of our research focuses on the two polar bear subpopulation’s whose range includes Alaska: the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation that ranges between the North Slope of Alaska and western Canada and the Chukchi Sea or Alaska-Chukotka subpopulation that ranges between the northwest coast of Alaska and eastern Russia. The overarching goal of our research is to assess current and projected future responses of polar bears to a rapidly changing Arctic environment.