Abstract 119 – Integrating health assessments into at-risk species’ conservation planning: Polar bears as a case study

Todd Atwood

Species recovery plans typically list the set of factors considered when determining
conservation status, along with clearly defined objectives and actions to meet recovery criteria.
For example, species are afforded federal protection under the Endangered Species Act (ESA)
when they are deemed to be “threatened” or “endangered” because of any of five factors
representing habitat threats, overutilization, inadequate regulatory mechanisms, other natural
or man-made factors, and disease and predation. The consideration of “disease and predation”
as a factor is acknowledgment that sound conservation efforts require an understanding of
health issues that affect populations. However, few species recovery plans include health-
oriented objectives or criteria. We present a case study of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) to
illustrate how health assessments can be used to evaluate population vulnerability and develop
related recovery criteria. Animal health assessment and monitoring has been transitioning to a
characterization of health in the context of vulnerability. This transition is conducive to
identifying causal links between a changing environment and physiological and population-level
processes, which may be valuable for informing efforts to conserve species deemed vulnerable
to rapid environmental change.