Sentences with phrase «bearded seals»

Thus, many lines of evidence suggest it is «more likely than not» that observations of bearded seals resting on sea ice platforms is only evidence of a convenience, not a survival requirement.

Up in Alaska, it's so hot now that the traditional hunt for bearded seal last summer was cut abnormally short due to melted ice, causing the Native community there to worry about losing the ability to continue with their traditional ways of acquiring food and practicing their culture.

As the BRT stated, «Research suggests that, during the time of whelping and nursing, bearded seals prefer areas where the percent concentration of sea ice is > 25 %.

In contrast, most Bearded Seal pups amazingly molt their lanugo within the uterus.

Each winter bearded seals in the Pacific sector migrate southward as winter ice prevents access to their favored feeding grounds.

Because bearded seals can not forage in deep waters (illustrated by the dark blue color), they can not breed in ice free waters located south of the shallow Bering Sea.

The loss of thick multi-year ice over the deep Arctic basin in September has no effect on bearded seals survival.

A family hunting bearded seals instead encounters hundreds of walruses, a rare sight so early in the year.

That passage is a migratory route for bowhead whales, and also bearded seals and ringed seals.

When the «rest of the story» is told, it seems highly unlikely bearded seals will be endangered by reduced sea ice or warming temperatures.

So even though 2 million years of climate history illustrated bearded seals are highly resilient, the court was swayed by a limited selection of models and untestable predictions.

Lacking a more direct measure of the relationship between bearded seal vital rates and ice coverage, the BRT assumed that this preference relationship reflects the species requirements for sea - ice coverage.»

There, bearded seals form numerous shore rookeries comprised of tens to hundreds of individuals, during a time that overlaps with molting.

To make the case bearded seals were threatened, the BRT argued sea ice is a critical habitat required for birthing, nursing, molting and for resting while over prime foraging habitat.

In habitat where sea ice either melts completely or recedes beyond the limits of shallow - water feeding grounds, bearded seals simply come ashore.

Consistent with this analysis, the BRT reports during the spring in the eastern and northern Bering Sea, the Chukchi Sea, and the Laptev Sea, where much of the first - year sea ice is heavily compacted, breeding bearded seals are not found in any significant numbers.

Tagged bearded seals, climate change, decline, fail, global warming, icon, inconsistencies, models, op - ed, opinion, polar bears, population size, predictions, prey, resilience, ringed seals, Southern Beaufort, stable, starvation, starving bears, thick spring ice

In that decision, the court reported it was troubling that the Beringia population of bearded seals was listed as threatened simply based on threats predicted by climate models that would not manifest until the end of the 21st century.

Thus, it is «more likely than not» that the dynamics that are now reducing Arctic sea ice are also increasing the food supply, not just for bearded seals but for the whole food web.

As the BRT reported, bearded seals prefer foraging in open ice cover where the sea floor is less tan 100 meters deep.

Furthermore, bearded seal pups are well adapted to enter the water immediately after birth.

The microphones record data at a sample rate of 8kHz, so the group listens up to 4kHz — for scale, the highest note on a normally tuned, standard piano is 4.186 kHz — to include signals produced by large whales like fins, humpbacks, bowheads and killer whales, as well as pinnipeds such as bearded seals and walrus.

By Jim Steele Listing the Bearded Seal as Threatened: A Disturbing Victory for Untestable Hypotheses and Flawed Models I'm a longtime supporter of the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Polar bears are the largest land carnivores in the world, but they are also marine mammals, meaning they spend the majority of their time on Artic sea ice hunting for ice - dependent ringed and bearded seals to snack on.

As a result the Bering and Chukchi seas sustain some of the earth's richest bounty of bottom dwelling prey sought by walrus, gray whales and bearded seals (Sirenko 2007).

By the time a child born in 2015 retires around 2090, she'll be living in a world with few wild polar bears or Arctic populations of narwhals, bearded seals, and ringed seals.

Tagged Barber and Iacozza, bearded seal, beluga whales, Gulf of Boothia, local Inuit knowledge, M'Clintock Channel, multiyear ice, narwhal, polar bear population density, ringed seal, sea ice habitat, Thiemann

On the other hand, bearded seals are definitely adapted to survive in ice free waters.

Much of the Bearded Seal's habitat encompasses seasonal ice zones where first - year sea ice is renewed every winter but melts completely every summer.

Due to the advantage of accessing the sea floor as soon as dwindling sea ice permits, bearded seals are frequently associated with 70 to 90 % sea ice concentrations.

Although the Biological Review Team acknowledged «there is ample evidence that bearded seals have adapted successfully many times to both large and rapid ecological changes» they argued «history is not, on its own, an assurance that bearded seals can adapt to the changes projected for the foreseeable future.»

Bearded seals are in competition with other benthic (sea floor) feeders, walrus and gray whales, who likewise migrate into the Arctic as the ice melts.

In response to their petition, the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) assembled a Bearded Seal Biological Review Team (BRT).

The BRT concluded that «at least in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, bearded seals may not require the presence sea ice for a significant part of the year».

adapted successfully many times to both large and rapid ecological changes» they argued «history is not, on its own, an assurance that bearded seals can adapt to the changes projected for the foreseeable future.»

If the hypothesized warming from greenhouse gases proves to be true and if it can prevent further descent into another ice age or another little Ice Age, it is more likely than not such a warming effect would benefit the entire Arctic food web that sustains «threatened» bearded seals.

Heavy sea ice is a bigger threat to bearded seals, so they avoid regions where sea ice cover is more than 90 %.

Because bearded seals currently consume a huge variety of fish and invertebrates, it is highly likely bearded seals will easily adapt to any foreseeable changes in the food web.

But as seen in other memos and petitions, such as for the bearded seals, the CBD ultimately wants to use the ESA as a tool to regulate CO2.

Tagged Amstrup, bearded seal, Beaufort, Chukchi Sea, Climate Feedback, damage control, Derocher, ESA, fact checker, failed predictions, ice - free, observations, polar bear, predictions, ringed seal, sea ice, spin, spring, Stirling, summer, survival, thick ice, threatened

Listing the Bearded Seal as Threatened: A Disturbing Victory for Untestable Hypotheses and Flawed Models.

Ringed and bearded seals.

The Bering Sea is considered to be one of the world's most productive fisheries and its northern portions are the home of sea ducks, grey whales, bearded seals and walruses, but a 30 - year warming trend has been bad news for those animals that are adapted to a cold - water environment, causing them to migrate further north.