Seals can become extinct due to climate change

Researchers at Duke University in the United States have found that ice in the breeding area of ​​this seal is decreasing by about 6% per decade over the past 30 years.

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The scientists said that in the last few years, the entire baby seal of the year may have died. Although this species is not small, their future depends on how they adapt to new climate changes.

David Johnston, leading the research team, told the PloS One magazine: 'Most of our research on ice and climate change in the Arctic is focused on considering the annual minimum number of tapes. in September, but this sea globe uses seasonal sea ice in February and March. And there is very little research to see what happens to them. '

Seals depend on sea ice to give birth in February and March.

The most important breeding area of ​​this species is located along St Lawrence Bay, on the east coast of Canada. In 2007, a report by the Canadian government concluded that the number of these two cranes was deadly high in the southern bay due to very little ice sheets.

Arctic seals are also common in the White Sea, northwestern Russia. Duke University researchers also showed that the number of baby seals that die from strands varies with the amount of ice in February and March measured by satellites. It also changes with the fluctuations of the north Atlantic, climate circulation occurs every year.

Genetic studies indicate that some seals can travel between two breeding areas are Russia and Canada. And recently, scientists have found that groups of seals that are in the reproductive stage appear on the coastal ice sheets around Greenland, where they often do not give birth. This shows that their breeding area is heading north when the climate of the surrounding Arctic warms. Moving north can cause seals to encounter regularly with polar bears, a leading predator here.

'If we want this animal to survive, we have to know how the climate will affect this population of seals,' said Dr. Johnston on the BBC.

The US Snow and Ice Data Center shows that during the current winter, the areas covered by ice are almost the same as those seen in 2007, the year with the lowest number of ice covered areas recorded. of satellites since 1979.