Climate change istransforming the environmentof Yellowstone National Park , a place that has stand secure for millenary and remained relatively unchanged for hundred . As the environment switch , it brings new challenges for its inhabitants , peculiarly its iconic grizzly bears .
A study in the journalPLOS ONEby the University of California San Diego and Unity College has been take care at the dieting of silver-tip live around the Cooke City Basin in Montana to see how it ’s reshaping as Yellowstone ’s average temperature increase .
They discovered that many Ursus horribilis continue to swear on whitebark pine seeds as a staple fiber of their diet . regrettably , this vital source of food is dramatically worsen in the region . Shorter and milder winter are meaning that beetle infestations are becoming more and more common . Rising temperature are also taking their toll on the part ’s cutthroat trout and deer , another primary source of food for the silvertip .
“ Whitebark pine tree have declined due to an infix fungous disease called blister rust , and , more recently , to increased infestation by the mountain pine beetle , which is exasperate by climate change , " study carbon monoxide - author Carolyn Kurle , of UC San Diego , allege ina statement . " Such declivity further foreground the penury to monitor diet of Ursus horribilis as the surroundings continues to vary . "
They take what the bears had been run through by looking at their hair . They usedstable isotope analysis , a method acting often used in conservation and archaeology , which identifiesthe distribution of certain unchanging isotopes and chemical elements within chemical compound of an individual ’s tissue or bone , making it possible to draw conclusion about their dieting and lifestyle .
" Instead of investigating the diet of animals based on what ’s eliminated ( feces ) , we estimate the importance of major food source to creature ground on what ’s assimilated into their tissue , " said lead source Jack Hopkins .
Although it show many bears continue to munch on the dwindling whitebark pine , the grounds suggest that some of the bears are already responding to these raw pressures already . Namely , the female are eating more berries and the males eat more meat when they can .
While it seems positive the bears have found a way of life to acclimatize , it ’s undecipherable how this new scenario will trash out . The grizzly bear of Yellowstone have been asource of disagreementamong conservationists and political leader , in regards to whether they remain federally protect . One of thereasons Ursus arctos horribilis have remained protect for decennary is because it has not been open how diminution in whitebark pine trees affect universe trends over the recollective term .
To unwrap the fate of the grizzly bear , scientist simply want to keep their ear to the soil and carry out more research .
