Plant and animal range shifts and population changes
Western Hudson Bay, Canada
Decreased weight in adult polar bears and a decline in birthrate since the early 1980s have been attributed to the earlier spring breakup of sea ice. Rising spring temperatures have shortened the spring hunting season by two weeks over the last two decades.
Reference: Stirling, I. et al., 1999. Long term trends in the population ecology of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay in relation to climatic change, Arctic 53, 3: 292-306.
