Anthropogenic waste ingestion of Southern Beaufort Sea polar bears, Alaska (2010-2020)

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作   者：

Stimmelmayr, Raphaela;  SimsKayotuk, Carla;  Pederson, Mike;  Sheffield, Gay;  Frantz, Rita;  Nayakik, Jared;  Adams, Billy; 

作者机构：

Univ Alaska Fairbanks;  North Slope Borough Dept Wildlife Management Utqi; 

关键词：

polar bear;  anthropogenic waste;  plastics;  KNOWLEDGE;  Alaska;  health;  human-wildlife conflict;  food conditioning;  URSUS-MARITIMUS;  Ursus maritimus;  FOOD; 

期刊名称：

Ursus: an official publication of the International Association for Bear Research and Management

i s s n：

1537-6176

年卷期：

2023 年 34 卷

页   码：

摘   要：

We report on anthropogenic waste ingestion and associated foreign-body gastric pathology in polar bears (Ursusmaritimus) within theNorth Slope Borough, Alaska, from stomach content analysis of 42 bears during 2010 to 2020. User plastics and rubbish other than plastics were observed in 28.6% (12/42) and 11.9% (5/42), respectively. Acute gastritiswas present in 33.3% (14/42) of polar bear stomachs. Fifty percent of the acute gastritis cases (n = 7) were observed in animals with user plastics in their stomach content. The findings of our multiyear polar bear stomach-content analysis emphasize that anthropogenic waste ingestion is common in polar bears of the Southern Beaufort Sea subpopulation. For the future, controlling access to anthropogenic foods (e.g., garbage dumps, stored wildlife resources) will be an important component of proactive human polar bear management on the North Slope, Alaska, and for the entire Arctic.