Wildlife and Biodiversity Impacts
The Arctic is home to an extraordinary array of wildlife including caribou, musk oxen, polar bear, belugas and bowhead whales. Species that live all or part of their time in the Arctic are well adapted to an extreme and surprisingly variable environment, but many are now under serious threat from climate change. At greatest risk are those species that are most restricted to the high Arctic and are in some way dependent on the ice for their survival. Among these, the polar bear, ringed and bearded seals, walrus, narwhal and ivory gull may be most vulnerable.
Learn more:
Download our Arctic Wildlife Fact Sheet
Click here to view sources for this section
Download the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment's Key Findings on shifting Arctic vegetation zones (PDF) and climate change's impact on animal species' diversity, ranges and distribution (PDF)
Learn more about the impact of climate change on Arctic ecosystems by viewing a presentation by Dr. Susan Kutz on the impacts of climate change on parasites and disease in Arctic Land Mammals, a presentation by Dr. Glenn Patrick Juday on the impacts of climate change on the forests of Alaska, and a presentation by Dr. Steven C. Amstrup on polar bears from American Meteorological Society's Environmental Science Seminar Series
View NOAA's Arctic Annual Report Card for Biology