Martyn E. Obbard

1 Introduction Individuals within a population often exhibit different habitat-use strategies due to both intrinsic (e.g., genetic) and extrinsic (e.g., local variation in habitat quality) factors, resulting in spatially structured populations characterized by intrapopulation variation in movement patterns, reproduction, and genetics (McCullough 1996; Morris 2003).

Research Article Tom S. Smith Corresponding Author E-mail address: tom_smith@byu.edu http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8384-2454 Brigham Young University, 701 East Campus Parkway, Provo, UT, 84602 USA E‐mail: tom_smith@byu.edu Search for more papers by this author PDF ShareShare Get access to the full version of this article. View access options below. Institutional Login Loading institution options... If you have previously obtained access with your personal account, Please log in.

The Southern Hudson Bay polar bear (Ursus maritimus Phipps, 1774) subpopulation is considered stable but conflicting evidence lends uncertainty to that designation. Capture-recapture studies conducted 1984-86 and 2003-05 and an aerial survey conducted 2011/12 suggested abundance was likely unchanged since the mid-1980s. However, body condition and body size declined since then, and duration of sea ice decreased by about 30 days.