Researchers make concerning discovery while studying polar bears: 'A desperate survival mechanism'

Researchers have found that certain changes in polar bear DNA are linked to bears living in warmer places — with implications for how the animals adapt to a warming planet. 

What's happening?

A recent study published in the journal Mobile DNA found distinctive shifts in the genes and gene expressions of polar bears living in warmer areas. 

The researchers studied different population groups of polar bears and found that bears living in a warmer section of Southeast Greenland below the Arctic Circle were more likely to have highly active "transposable elements," also known as jumping genes.

"By comparing these bears' active genes to local climate data, we found that rising temperatures appear to be driving a dramatic increase in the activity of jumping genes within the southeastern Greenland bears' DNA," lead researcher Alice Godden said, per a University of East Anglia Norwich summary of the research.

"Essentially, this means that different groups of bears are having different sections of their DNA changed at different rates, and this activity seems linked to their specific environment and climate," Godden added.

Why is the study's discovery important?

In the university report, Godden indicated that the finding was significant because it showed the polar bears in the south were adapting rapidly to their environment. 

"These specific bears provide a genetic blueprint for how polar bears might be able to adapt quickly to climate change," Godden said.

However, the fact that the bears need to adapt in the first place is a sign of a big problem: significant habitat loss in Arctic and sub-Arctic regions.

Arctic ice is shrinking at a rate of 12% per decade, according to NASA, as measured by summer sea ice extent. For polar bears and other animals, this can be devastating. 

Polar bears live, mate, and hunt on sea ice. As the ice melts, polar bears lose their habitat, face starvation, and can have reduced breeding success — all threats that push the species closer to extinction. Currently, polar bears are considered a "vulnerable" species, according to the IUCN Red List. 

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The researchers indicated that the observed genetic alteration could be one of the bears' last chances to survive. 

Godden called the DNA changes "a desperate survival mechanism against melting sea ice," the University of East Anglia reported.

What's being done to protect polar bears? 

Although the study's discovery isn't exactly good news, research such as this helps conservationists better understand how animals are adapting to rapid changes in their environment — and it could provide "a useful resource for conservation in polar bears," as the study indicated.

The best way to protect any species from extinction is to slow habitat loss. Deforestation, urbanization, and pollution are destroying and fragmenting ecosystems, but they can be saved. Restoring, preserving, and protecting habitats could help over 48,000 threatened plant and animal species recover.

Arctic habitat restoration is difficult, because sea ice loss is impacted by global temperature increases that are, in turn, driven by air pollution. Still, conservationists and others are working to slow habitat loss by reducing emissions, using less plastic, creating protected areas, and advocating for stronger climate policies.

"We cannot be complacent," Godden said, per the university. "This [finding] offers some hope but does not mean that polar bears are at any less risk of extinction. We still need to be doing everything we can to reduce global carbon emissions and slow temperature increases."

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