Ian Stirling

Biographic Data

ID367819
NAMEIan Stirling
GIVEN NAMESIan
FAMILY NAMEStirling
SIGNATURESTIRLING I
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Alberta
ORCID0000-0002-1610-9305
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS37
TOTAL CITATIONS26
WORKS AS AUTHOR37
WORKS AS EDITOR0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1971
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2022
H-INDEX2

  • Using Visual Observations to Compare the Behavior of Previously Immobilized and Non-Immobilized Wild Polar Bears

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Eric V Regehr et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2022

    During 17 field seasons between 1973 and 1999, we conducted a long-term study of the behavior of undisturbed wild polar bears in Radstock Bay, southwest Devon Island, Nunavut. In a subset of 11 seasons (6 spring and 5 summer) between 1975 and 1997, we used three different drug combinations to chemically immobilize a small number of adult and subadult polar bears on an opportunistic basis and applied a temporary dye mark so that individual bears c…

  • Do Wild Polar Bears ( Ursus maritimus ) Use Tools When Hunting Walruses ( Odobenus rosmarus )

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Kristin L Laidre et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2021

    Since the late 1700s, reports of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) using tools (i.e., pieces of ice or stones) to kill walruses (Odobenus rosmarus) have been passed on verbally to explorers and naturalists by their Inuit guides, based on local traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) as well as accounts of direct observations or interpretations of tracks in the snow made by the Inuit hunters who reported them. To assess the possibility that polar bears…

  • Deep silences

    Ian StirlingARTICLEPractical Theology2020

    This paper describes my journey as a hospice chaplain, from being out of my depth, in awkward silences, to embracing deep silences, as the locus of the sacred. By recovering the original vision of hospice pioneers, by embracing spiritual artistry and by discovering an innovative methodology – spiritual autoethnography – I uncover silences. Silences – traumatic, shameful, communicative, of betrayal and in grief – are prevalent in hospices, yet rar…

  • Long-term, Harvest-based Monitoring of Ringed Seal Body Condition and Reproduction in Canada’s Western Arctic

    Open AccessLois A Harwood, Thomas G Smith et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2020

    The circumpolar Arctic ringed seal (Pusa hispida) occupies its fast-ice breeding habitat for four to five months during winter and the pack ice or open water of adjacent areas for the rest of the year. From 1971 – 78 and 1992 – 2019, we sampled approximately 100 ringed seals annually from western Prince Albert Sound (WPAS), the prime ringed seal fast-ice breeding habitat in Canada’s Western Arctic, adjacent to primary overwinter foraging habitat …

  • Predation of Harp Seals, Pagophilus groenlandicus , by Polar Bears, Ursus maritimus , in Svalbard

    Open AccessThomas G Smith, Ian StirlingARTICLEARCTIC2019

    Harp seals (Pagophilus groenlandicus) that breed in February and March in the White Sea migrate to open water around Svalbard and Franz Josef Land in the Barents Sea, feeding pelagically while following the receding ice edge northward to the edge of the polar pack. Although harp seals are present throughout the area during the summer, they are primarily pelagic and do not appear to be extensively preyed upon by polar bears (Ursus maritimus). Howe…

  • Ice Bear

    Open AccessIan StirlingARTICLEARCTIC2017

  • How Animals Create Human History

    Open AccessMatthew W Betts, Matthew Betts et al.ARTICLEAmerican Antiquity2015Cited by: 14References: 48

    Carvings that represent polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are commonly found in Dorset Paleo-Eskimo archaeological sites across the eastern Arctic. Relational ecology, combined with Amerindian perspectivism, provides an integrated framework within which to comprehensively assess the connections between Dorset and polar bears. By considering the representational aspects of the objects, we reveal an ethology of polar bears encoded within the carvings' …

  • Ringed, Bearded, and Ribbon Seal Vocalizations North of Barrow, Alaska

    Open AccessJennifer M Jones, Bruce J Thayre et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2014

    The acoustic repertoires of ringed, bearded, and ribbon seals are described, along with their seasonal occurrence and relationship to sea ice concentration. Acoustic recordings were made between September and June over three years (2006 – 09) along the continental slope break in the Chukchi Sea, 120 km north-northwest of Barrow, Alaska. Vocalizations of ringed and bearded seals occurred in winter and during periods of 80% – 100% ice cover but wer…

  • Observations of Cannibalism by Polar Bears ( Ursus maritimus ) on Summer and Autumn Sea Ice at Svalbard, Norway

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Jenny E RossARTICLEARCTIC2011

    We report three instances of intraspecific killing and cannibalism of young polar bears by adult males on the sea ice in Svalbard in summer and autumn. During breakup and melting in summer, the area of sea ice around the Svalbard Archipelago declines to a fraction of the winter total, and in many areas it disappears completely. As the area of sea ice that polar bears can use for hunting declines, progressively fewer seals are accessible to the be…

  • Changes in Land Distribution of Polar Bears in Western Hudson Bay

    Open AccessLindsay Towns, Andrew E Derocher et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2010

    We examined the capture locations of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) on land in western Hudson Bay over 19 years (1986–2004) to assess temporal trends in the distribution of the population. We found that the distribution of bears of most age and sex groups shifted northward and eastward over the study. The causes of these shifts may be related to an altered population structure, changing environmental conditions, or a combination of both factors. S…

  • Allocating Harvests among Polar Bear Stocks in the Beaufort Sea

    Open AccessSteven C Amstrup, George M Durner et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2010

    Recognition that polar bears are shared by hunters in Canada and Alaska prompted development of the “Polar Bear Management Agreement for the Southern Beaufort Sea.” Under this Agreement, the harvest of polar bears from the southern Beaufort Sea (SBS) is shared between Inupiat hunters of Alaska and Inuvialuit hunters of Canada. Quotas for each jurisdiction are to be reviewed annually in light of the best available scientific information. Ideal imp…

  • Ecological Dynamics Across the Arctic Associated with Recent Climate Change

    Open AccessEric Post, Mads C Forchhammer et al.ARTICLEScience2009

    Assessing the Arctic The Arctic is experiencing some of the most rapid climate change currently under way across the globe, but consequent ecological responses have not been widely reported. At the close of the Fourth International Polar Year, Post et al. (p. 1355 ) review observations on ecological impacts in this sensitive region. The widespread changes occurring in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems, presage changes at lower latitudes…

  • The White Bears of Greenland, by E.W. Born

    Open AccessIan StirlingARTICLEARCTIC2009

  • Unusual Predation Attempts of Polar Bears on Ringed Seals in the Southern Beaufort Sea

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Evan S Richardson et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2009

    In April and May 2003 through 2006, unusually rough and rafted sea ice extended for several tens of kilometres offshore in the southeastern Beaufort Sea from about Atkinson Point to the Alaska border. Hunting success of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) seeking seals was low despite extensive searching for prey. It is unknown whether seals were less abundant in comparison to other years or less accessible because they maintained breathing holes below…

  • Possible Effects of Climate Warming on Selected Populations of Polar Bears ( Ursus maritimus ) in the Canadian Arctic

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Claire L ParkinsonARTICLEARCTIC2009

    Polar bears depend on sea ice for survival. Climate warming in the Arctic has caused significant declines in total cover and thickness of sea ice in the polar basin and progressively earlier breakup in some areas. Inuit hunters in the areas of four polar bear populations in the eastern Canadian Arctic (including Western Hudson Bay) have reported seeing more bears near settlements during the open-water period in recent years. In a fifth ecological…

  • Polar Bear Distribution and Abundance on the Southwestern Hudson Bay Coast During Open Water Season, in Relation to Population Trends and Annual Ice Patterns

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Nicholas J Lunn et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2004

    In Hudson Bay, all the ice melts in summer, and the last areas to be ice-free (around mid-to-late July) are usually off the coasts of Manitoba and Ontario. Thus, all polar bears are forced ashore to fast until freeze-up in November (ca. four months). Pregnant females remain ashore for eight months. In most years from 1963 through 1997, aerial surveys to monitor polar bear populations were conducted along all or part of the coastline between Cape …

  • Implications of Warm Temperatures and an Unusual Rain Event for the Survival of Ringed Seals on the Coast of Southeastern Baffin Island

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Thomas G SmithARTICLEARCTIC2004

    We recorded an unusually warm period in early April 1979 along the coastline at the end of the Hall Peninsula on southeastern Baffin Island, Nunavut. Maximum temperatures remained at or above freezing for almost a week, and rain fell on our field camp on three consecutive days. In contrast, meteorological data collected from three nearby coastal stations (Brevoort Island, Cape Dyer, and Resolution Island) between 1950 and 1992 indicated that the …

  • Polar Bear ( Ursus maritimus ) Denning in the Area of the Simpson Peninsula, Nunavut

    Open AccessOMI Franz Van de Velde, Ian Stirling et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2003

    The locations of polar bear snow dens in winter on the Simpson Peninsula, Nunavut, and nearby islands to the northwest, and information on the sex and age class of a subsample of the occupants of 73 dens, were recorded from interviews with Inuit hunters at Pelly Bay, at intervals from 1937 to 1965 and 1968 to 1969. Hunting bears at winter dens, after locating them with the assistance of dogs, was legal during that period and was widely practiced …

  • A top–down, multidisciplinary study of the structure and function of the pack-ice ecosystem in the eastern Ross Sea, Antarctica

    Open AccessStephen F Ackley, John L Bengtson et al.ARTICLEPolar Record2003

    We used a top–down, multidisciplinary approach to examine the physical and biological environment of the pack ice of the eastern Ross Sea (approximately 125–170°W) during the austral summer of 1999/2000 from RVIB Nathaniel B. Palmer and its ship-based helicopters. The approach focused on pack-ice seals while incorporating studies of biotic and abiotic factors that may influence the distribution and abundances of these apex predators in the Ross S…

  • The Polar Bear Management Agreement for the Southern Beaufort Sea

    Open AccessC D Brower, Charles D N Brower et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2002

    Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) of the southern Beaufort Sea population, distributed from approximately Icy Cape, west of Point Barrow, Alaska, to Pearce Point, east of Paulatuk in Canada, are harvested by hunters from both countries. In Canada, quotas to control polar bear hunting have been in place, with periodic modifications, since 1968. In Alaska, passage of the United Sates Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) of 1972 banned polar bear hunting…

  • Chronology of Terrestrial Den Use by Polar Bears in Western Hudson Bay as Indicated by Tree Growth Anomalies

    Open AccessPeter A Scott, Peter Scott et al.ARTICLEARCTIC2002

    In a large polar bear denning area inland from the coast of western Hudson Bay south of Churchill, Manitoba, previous denning activity was determined by examining tree growth anomalies in the black spruce (Picea mariana) around and above den sites. A concentrated sample of dens was examined at each of three lakes, and 14 additional den sites were sampled individually on nine lakes and streams, for a total of 31 den sites. Trees sampled at these d…

  • Polar Bears and Seals in the Eastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf

    Open AccessIan StirlingARTICLEARCTIC2002Cited by: 4

    In the eastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf, research on polar bear populations and their ecological interrelationships with seals and sea ice conditions began in the fall of 1970. Analysis of movement data from mark-recapture studies and tracking of adult female bears with satellite radio collars indicated that there are two populations of polar bears in the area, one that inhabits the west coast of Banks Island and Amundsen Gulf and a second …

  • Long-term Trends in the Population Ecology of Polar Bears in Western Hudson Bay in Relation to Climatic Change

    Open AccessIan Stirling, Nicholas J Lunn et al.ARTICLEARCTIC1999

    From 1981 through 1998, the condition of adult male and female polar bears has declined significantly in western Hudson Bay, as have natality and the proportion of yearling cubs caught during the open water period that were independent at the time of capture. Over this same period, the breakup of the sea ice on western Hudson Bay has been occurring earlier. There was a significant positive relationship between the time of breakup and the conditio…

  • Distribution, Characteristics, and Use of Earth Dens and Related Excavations by Polar Bears on the Western Hudson Bay Lowlands

    Open AccessDouglas A Clark, Ian Stirling et al.ARTICLEARCTIC1997

    Polar bears fasting on land along the western coast of Hudson Bay during the open water period, from late July through early November, excavate three different types of structures, which we termed pits, deep dens, and shallow dens. Pits were shallow excavations found on the tops of banks or beach ridges, whereas both deep and shallow dens were dug into frozen peat banks. Pits were used as temporary resting places. The function of shallow dens is …

  • Re-estimating the Size of the Polar Bear Population in Western Hudson Bay

    Open AccessNicholas J Lunn, Ian Stirling et al.ARTICLEARCTIC1997

    A mark-recapture study of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) ashore during the ice-free period of Hudson Bay was undertaken in 1994 and 1995 to re-estimate the size of the western Hudson Bay population. Previous estimates were based on animals caught between the Churchill and Nelson Rivers; consequently, bears in the southern part of the geographic range of this population were not sampled. We used Jolly-Seber models to re-estimate population size fro…