Sunday 18 January 2015

Polar bears migrate north as rising temperatures hasten Arctic ice melt

New study of DNA suggests generations of bears are ‘moving towards areas with more persistent year-round sea ice’

Darryl Fears for the Washington Post

Saturday 17 January 2015 10.00 GMT

It was just a theory, but for years scientists believed what years of observation were telling them. As Arctic sea ice melted because of climate change, polar bears appeared to be creeping their way toward a final refuge in the icy Canadian archipelago.

Now a study of polar bear DNA backs that up. Scientists who research the animals across the Arctic teamed up to produce a paper showing that the “directional gene flow” of recent polar bear generations is “moving towards areas with more persistent year-round sea ice”.

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