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How Climate Change Threatens Costa Rica’s Peatlands

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Sunday, March 23, 2025

In Costa Rica’s Cordillera de Talamanca, a team of researchers from the Universidad Estatal a Distancia (UNED), Universidad de Costa Rica (UCR), and Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM) has uncovered a vibrant yet vulnerable world of biodiversity. Their study, titled “Flora of High-Mountain Tropical Peatlands: Threats and Management Measures, Cordillera de Talamanca, Costa Rica,” identified 67 plant species thriving in the region’s high-mountain tropical peatlands. These unique ecosystems within the Macizo de la Muerte between El Empalme and Cerro Bellavista in Tapantí National Park, span an altitude of 2,400 to 3,100 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.). The team surveyed five distinct peatlands, revealing both the richness of these habitats and the threats they face. The results painted a striking contrast. Peatlands in the Salsipuedes and Cerro Paramillo sectors, sheltered within protected areas, displayed greater floristic diversity, with a variety of plants adapted to the soggy, high-altitude conditions. However, three peatlands outside state protection—closer to the bustling Inter-American Highway—showed lower biodiversity. Researchers attribute this decline to the “edge effect,” where habitat boundaries disrupt ecosystems, and to agro-productive activities like farming that encroach on these fragile zones. Near the highway, the team observed a shift in plant life, with species requiring less water dominating the landscape—a sign of environmental stress. Peatlands, often overlooked, are vital to the Mesoamerican Hotspot, a globally recognized cradle of biodiversity. Beyond harboring unique flora, they act as natural sponges, storing water and carbon, and serve as sensitive barometers of human influence. The study pinpointed climate change and anthropogenic pressures, such as land development, as major risks. With 40.3% of the inventoried species identified as ecologically significant—either as keystone species supporting other life or as biogeographical rarities—the stakes for conservation are high. Looking ahead, the researchers aim to broaden their exploration across the Cordillera de Talamanca, hoping to gather more data to shape effective management strategies. Their work underscores an urgent call to action: preserving these highland ecosystems is not just about saving plants, but about safeguarding a delicate balance that benefits the region and beyond. As climate pressures mount, these findings could guide Costa Rica—and the world—in protecting nature’s unsung heroes. The post How Climate Change Threatens Costa Rica’s Peatlands appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

These unique ecosystems within the Macizo de la Muerte between El Empalme and Cerro Bellavista in Tapantí National Park, span an altitude of 2,400 to 3,100 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.). The team surveyed five distinct peatlands, revealing both the richness of these habitats and the threats they face.

The results painted a striking contrast. Peatlands in the Salsipuedes and Cerro Paramillo sectors, sheltered within protected areas, displayed greater floristic diversity, with a variety of plants adapted to the soggy, high-altitude conditions. However, three peatlands outside state protection—closer to the bustling Inter-American Highway—showed lower biodiversity.

Researchers attribute this decline to the “edge effect,” where habitat boundaries disrupt ecosystems, and to agro-productive activities like farming that encroach on these fragile zones. Near the highway, the team observed a shift in plant life, with species requiring less water dominating the landscape—a sign of environmental stress.

Peatlands, often overlooked, are vital to the Mesoamerican Hotspot, a globally recognized cradle of biodiversity. Beyond harboring unique flora, they act as natural sponges, storing water and carbon, and serve as sensitive barometers of human influence. The study pinpointed climate change and anthropogenic pressures, such as land development, as major risks. With 40.3% of the inventoried species identified as ecologically significant—either as keystone species supporting other life or as biogeographical rarities—the stakes for conservation are high.

Looking ahead, the researchers aim to broaden their exploration across the Cordillera de Talamanca, hoping to gather more data to shape effective management strategies. Their work underscores an urgent call to action: preserving these highland ecosystems is not just about saving plants, but about safeguarding a delicate balance that benefits the region and beyond. As climate pressures mount, these findings could guide Costa Rica—and the world—in protecting nature’s unsung heroes.

The post How Climate Change Threatens Costa Rica’s Peatlands appeared first on The Tico Times | Costa Rica News | Travel | Real Estate.

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How the devil is in the details of greener new jobs

Building a skilled workforce for a sustainable future has been much discussed in climate proposals. Now researchers are figuring out what green jobs actually entail, and how to support them.

What makes a job sustainable — both eco-friendly and liable to stick around? That question is at the center of new research from the Dukakis Center at Northeastern University’s Policy School, commissioned by the City of Boston to help meet its ambitious Climate Action Plan goals. The plan lays out a road map for transitioning the city off fossil fuels, achieving citywide carbon neutrality by 2050, and making the city resilient to a future changing climate. It aims to decarbonize buildings, electrify the transportation system, upgrade the city’s grid, and build coastal resiliency. But getting there depends on people — who’s going to do the work, and how will they get trained? “Climate plans are like a jigsaw puzzle,” said Joan Fitzgerald, a professor of public policy at Northeastern who led the research. “And the last piece to be put in place often is workforce development.” For Boston, that last puzzle piece comes with the release of the City’s Climate Ready Workforce Action Plan, which marks the culmination of a year-long research project conducted in partnership with the Dukakis Center along with the Burning Glass Institute, TSK Energy Solutions, and Community Labor United. Additionally, the plan incorporates feedback from 51 advisors, including city and state officials, training and education partners, labor partners, employer partners, and community leaders. One of the biggest challenges researchers encountered was how to define a “green job.” Take car mechanics, for instance. Fixing a gas-guzzling car might not seem like a climate-friendly role. But as electric vehicles become more common, mechanics are more likely to be servicing them. (Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be more mechanic jobs overall, according to Fitzgerald; electric cars have fewer parts and don’t need as much maintenance.) The same is true for an HVAC technician—one day they could be installing a gas furnace, and the next, an energy-efficient electric heat pump. “These examples show some of the murkiness of figuring out what a green job is,” Fitzgerald said. Professor Joan Fitzgerald presents Northeastern’s research on green workforce needs for Boston’s climate goals at a green economy workshop. Northeastern University To tackle this challenge, Northeastern made use of a novel dataset collected by the Burning Glass Institute, a data-driven think tank, to do an inventory of what jobs are needed in the green economy and what skills those occupations need. “Imagine a data set that’s hundreds of millions of individual job ads,” Stuart Andreason, the institute’s executive director, said. “We look at job postings from across the globe, identify the skills in them, and track how those skills are changing.” The researchers found that, while jobs like solar developer are undoubtedly part of the green workforce, many existing jobs could become green jobs with new or evolving skills. Construction workers might need training in energy-efficient building codes; electricians may need to understand how to install EV chargers. As the nation pivots from fossil fuels toward clean energy, green skills are becoming essential for workers across sectors. Drawing on both the Burning Glass data and other publicly available data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dukakis Center Director Alicia Modestino then analyzed two key questions: How many workers are going to be needed for the projects and initiatives laid out in Boston’s Climate Action Plan? And how many of these jobs will be held by new workers entering the labor force or workers who need to be replaced due to projected retirements? Despite some of these uncertainties, it’s clear that cities such as Boston can’t be climate-ready without a climate ready workforce. “And there is a limited number of programs and slots to equip workers with the green skills that are needed,” Modestino said. “The transition from entirely carbon-based jobs to those that require green skills or become entirely ‘greened’ will be rapid … possibly creating a shortage of workers if cities do not get ahead of the curve.” That kind of analysis helps cities like Boston understand what jobs are growing, what skills those jobs require, and how to shape workforce training accordingly. “The problem is predicting need. Is it both training new people to enter the green workforce and on-the-job training for people who are already in the labor force? That makes it hard to predict,” Fitzgerald said. In line with the environmental justice goals of Boston’s Green New Deal, researchers looked into what career opportunities exist for the city’s disadvantaged communities. These jobs run the gamut from designing and building climate-friendly infrastructure to community engagement. Beyond identifying what green jobs were out there, Fitzgerald’s team also explored how workers can climb the career ladder and identified where training programs are falling short. One concern: Many existing green workforce programs do not have enough funding to provide wages and support services to trainees. Once the funding ends, so does the career pipeline. “One of our recommendations is that’s where cities can help,” Fitzgerald said. “If you have an effective training program but it’s relying on funding that doesn’t allow it to pay trainees, then the city can support the wages for participants.” Despite the challenges, Boston’s Climate Ready Workforce Action Plan lays the groundwork for other cities to turn their far-reaching climate goals into real, lasting job opportunities. This report is the first of its kind, connecting Boston’s climate agenda to economic opportunity, said Oliver Sellers-Garcia, Environment Commissioner and Green New Deal Director. “Our work to fight climate change will create good-paying jobs and a more inclusive workforce in Boston,” he said. Northeastern University’s School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs (Policy School) offers master’s degrees that feature innovative, real-world explorations of our world’s most challenging climate, environmental, and sustainability issues. Through a combination of experiential learning, interdisciplinary research, and cutting-edge coursework, these programs prepare you for the next step in your career, using policy to address environmental and social justice in communities around the globe. Learn with us at our campuses in Boston, Arlington (Metro D.C.), and Oakland. LEARN MORE This story was originally published by Grist with the headline How the devil is in the details of greener new jobs on Dec 17, 2025.

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Greek tragedy: the rare seals hiding in caves to escape tourists

Greece is hoping that protected areas will help keep daytrippers away and allow vulnerable monk seals to return to their island habitatsDeep in a sea cave in Greece’s northern Sporades, a bulky shape moves in the gloom. Someone on the boat bobbing quietly on the water close by passes round a pair of binoculars and yes! – there it is. It’s a huge Mediterranean monk seal, one of the world’s rarest marine mammals , which at up to 2.8 metres and over 300kg (660lbs), is also one of the world’s largest types of seal.Piperi, where the seal has come ashore, is a strictly guarded island in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and Northern Sporades, Greece’s largest marine protected area (MPA) and a critical breeding habitat for the seals. Only researchers are allowed within three miles of its shores, with permission from the government’s Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency. Continue reading...

Deep in a sea cave in Greece’s northern Sporades, a bulky shape moves in the gloom. Someone on the boat bobbing quietly on the water close by passes round a pair of binoculars and yes! – there it is. It’s a huge Mediterranean monk seal, one of the world’s rarest marine mammals , which at up to 2.8 metres and over 300kg (660lbs), is also one of the world’s largest types of seal.Piperi, where the seal has come ashore, is a strictly guarded island in the National Marine Park of Alonissos and Northern Sporades, Greece’s largest marine protected area (MPA) and a critical breeding habitat for the seals. Only researchers are allowed within three miles of its shores, with permission from the government’s Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency.With a global population of under 1,000 individuals, Monachus monachus is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, reclassified from endangered in 2023, after decades of conservation efforts helped raise numbers. According to the Hellenic Society for Protection of the Monk Seal (MOm), Greece is home to about 500 monk seals (up from 250 in the 1990s), half of the global population, so has a uniquely important role to play in the future of these rare mammals. This seems fitting given that seals were once thought to have been under the protection of mythical gods Poseidon and Apollo and so have a special place in Greek culture.Monk seals have been hunted in the Mediterranean since prehistoric times for their pelts, meat and blubber. While this threat has receded in Greece, others – entanglement in fishing gear, food depletion, pollution and habitat loss – have not. Now, according to conservationists, a very modern peril is growing exponentially and putting that fragile recovery at risk: Greece’s burgeoning marine leisure industry. Unregulated tourism is having a negative impact on a mammal that is sensitive to human disturbance, say .A monk seal surfaces close to a research boat.This summer several initiatives were launched to turn this around, including Seal Greece, a national education campaign. At about the same time, the islet of Formicula, a key seal habitat in the Ionian Sea, was shielded ahead of the busy summer season by a strict 200-metre no entry zone. In October, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, confirmed two large-scale MPAs are to go ahead. If properly managed (and so far the management structure is unclear), these MPAs could offer a lifeline to the species.Back on the waters around Piperi, Angelos Argiriou, a freelance warden and marine biologist, points as the boat passes a shore monitored by camera. “We often see the seals resting on this beach,” he says. “The fact that they feel safe enough to haul out [rest] here in the open is a really good sign that the protection measures are working.”A pup that was found orphaned is prepared for release at the Hellenic Society for Protection of the Monk Seal. Photograph: P. DendrinosSeals began to be protected in Greece in the late 1980s, with the Hellenic Society for Protection of the Monk Seal , which has rescued more than 40 orphaned or injured seals to date.“Our rehab centre has really helped the recovery of the species,” says Mom’s president, Panos Dendrinos. “Last year, we saw a rehabilitated female with a new pup. If you save one female, she might have 20 pups in her lifetime.”Monk seals once commonly gathered on beaches but many moved into caves relatively recently because of human pressure. Although pupping caves might have provided shelter from people, they have often proved an unsuitable habitat in which to raise young – violent surf can smash them against rocks, drown them or sweep them out to sea. And caves no longer provide reliable hiding places. Once-remote coastlines are now accessible to everyone from day trippers on hired boats to private yachts anchored in the seals’ habitat.“A week after giving birth, monk seal mothers go fishing, leaving their pup alone for hours,” says Dendrinos. “If someone goes inside, the pup is liable to panic and abandon the cave; its mother is unlikely to find it.”An adult female with her pup on Piperi. The island is in a marine park that protects seals so they can start to use beaches again. Photograph: P. DendrinosAfter 40 years of monitoring the Alonissos MPA, Dendrinos says his society “now see seals using open beaches systemically”.As another key habitat for seals, Formicula will be part of the new Ionian MPA. The islet is at the heart of one of the world’s busiest sailing grounds but unlike its better-known neighbours, Meganisi and Cephalonia, it did not appear much on the tourist radar until recently.Marine biologist Joan Gonzalvo from Tethys Research Institute explains how tourism has taken its toll on the area. “Six, seven, eight years ago we had encounters almost every day,” he recalls. “We would see five, six seals in the water at once, socialising, chasing each other.”But with the sightings came the tourists. “What was exciting at first quickly turned into a nightmare,” he says.The hordes came, looking for “seal experiences”, he says. Instead of studying the animals, Gonzalvo found himself recording humans chasing seals. On two occasions, people entered breeding caves, causing the separation of mothers from pups. In both cases, the pups disappeared. One day in August 2024, he says he recorded more than 50 boats around the islet’s tiny shoreline. “Nowadays,” he says, “we are lucky if we see only one or two individual seals.”Seals were once thought to have been under the protection of mythical gods Poseidon and Apollo and so have a special place in Greek culture. Photograph: Ugo Mellone/The Wild LineAs we are talking Gonzalvo spots a seal and takes out his camera. He recognises her immediately. “Mm17003,” he says, citing the number of one of more than 40 seals he has catalogued online. As the seal rolls through the water, boats pull up and anchor in the new no-entry zones while tourists swim near the protected caves.Unlike the Alonissos MPA, there are no wardens patrolling Formicula and it is down to Gonzalvo to politely point out to the boat’s skippers that they are in a forbidden area.“It’s early days,” he says. “But the inactivity [of the seals] worries me. We need serious investment on law enforcement.”In Greece, NGOs have repeatedly raised the issue of “paper parks”, with inadequate implementation. A study published last year by nine environmental organisations highlighted “only 12 (out of 174) marine Natura 2000 sites [EU protected areas] have a protective regime”, but even those were fragmented or temporary.The hope is that the new MPAs bring patrols. “The Natural Environment and Climate Change Agency needs more boats, more people,” Dendrinos says, adding that the wardens currently report to port police, “a process that is time consuming and ineffective”.At Formicula, Gonzalvo worries that time is running out. “If we are not capable of protecting this important habitat, a tiny drop in the middle of the Ionian Sea, for one of the most charismatic and endangered marine mammals on the planet, there is very little hope for anything else we want to protect in our oceans.”The sight of the animals playing in the water drew crowds of tourists looking for ‘seal experiences’. Photograph: Marco-Colombo/The Wild Line

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Climate change is rewriting polar bear DNA

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Changes in polar bear DNA that could help the animals adapt to warmer climates have been detected by researchers in a study thought to be the first time a statistically significant link has been found between rising temperatures and changing DNA in a wild mammal species. Climate breakdown is threatening the survival of polar bears. Two-thirds of them are expected to disappear by 2050 as their icy habitat melts and the weather becomes hotter. Now, scientists at the University of East Anglia have found that some genes related to heat stress, aging, and metabolism are behaving differently in polar bears living in southeast Greenland, suggesting they may be adjusting to warmer conditions. The researchers analysed blood samples taken from polar bears in two regions of Greenland and compared “jumping genes” — small, mobile pieces of the genome that can influence how other genes work. Scientists looked at the genes in relation to temperatures in the two regions and at the associated changes in gene expression. “DNA is the instruction book inside every cell, guiding how an organism grows and develops,” said lead researcher Alice Godden. “By comparing these bears’ active genes to local climate data, we found that rising temperatures appear to be driving a dramatic increase in the activity of jumping genes within the southeast Greenland bears’ DNA.” As local climates and diets evolve as a result of changes in habitat and prey forced by global heating, the genetics of the bears appear to be adapting, with the group of bears in the warmest part of the country showing more changes than the communities farther north. The authors of the study have said these changes could help us understand how polar bears might survive in a warming world, inform understanding of which populations are most at risk, and guide future conservation efforts. This is because the findings, published on Friday in the journal Mobile DNA, suggest the genes that are changing play a crucial role in how different polar bear populations are evolving. “This finding is important because it shows, for the first time, that a unique group of polar bears in the warmest part of Greenland are using ‘jumping genes’ to rapidly rewrite their own DNA, which might be a desperate survival mechanism against melting sea ice,” Godden said. Temperatures in northeast Greenland are colder and less variable, while in the southeast, there is a much warmer and less icy environment, with steep temperature fluctuations. DNA sequences in animals change over time, but this process can be accelerated by environmental stress such as a rapidly heating climate. There were some interesting DNA changes, such as in areas linked to fat processing, that could help polar bears survive when food is scarce. Bears in warmer regions had more rough, plant-based diets compared with the fatty, seal-based diets of northern bears, and the DNA of south-eastern bears seemed to be adapting to this. Godden said, “We identified several genetic hotspots where these jumping genes were highly active, with some located in the protein-coding regions of the genome, suggesting that the bears are undergoing rapid, fundamental genetic changes as they adapt to their disappearing sea ice habitat.” The next step will be to look at other polar bear populations, of which there are 20 around the world, to see if similar changes are happening to their DNA. This research could help protect the bears from extinction. But the scientists said it was crucial to stop temperature rises accelerating by reducing the burning of fossil fuels. “We cannot be complacent; this offers some hope but does not mean that polar bears are at any less risk of extinction,” Godden said. “We still need to be doing everything we can to reduce global carbon emissions and slow temperature increases.”

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Supersized data centers are coming. See how they will transform America.

These AI campuses consume more power than major U.S. cities. Their footprints are measured in miles, not feet.

Supersized data centers are coming. See how they will transform America.This coal plant in central Pennsylvania, once the largest in the state, was shuttered in 2023 after powering the region for over 50 years.Earlier this year, wrecking crews blasted the plant’s cooling towers and soaring chimneys.Rising from the dust in Homer City will be a colossal artificial intelligence data center campus that will include seven 30-acre gas generating stations on-site, fueled by Pennsylvania’s natural gas boom.December 15, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EST6 minutes agoShawn Steffee of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers is hopeful.“The closing of the coal plant had been really brutal,” he said. “But this project just took the entire chess board and flipped it.”The Homer City facility will generate and consume as much power as all the homes in the Philadelphia urban area. It is among a generation of new supersized data centers sprouting across the country, the footprints of which are measured in miles, not feet.They are part of an AI moon shot, driven by an escalating U.S.-China war over dominance in the field. The projects are starting to transform landscapes and communities, sparking debates about what our energy systems and environment can sustain. The price includes increasing power costs for everyone and worrying surges in emissions and pollutants, according to government, industry and academic analyses.By 2030, industry and government projections show data centers could gobble up more than 10 percent of the nation’s power usage.Estimates vary, but all show a dizzying rise of between 60 and 150 percent in energy consumption by 2030. On average, they project U.S. data centers will use about 430 trillion watt-hours by 2030. That is enough electricity to power nearly 16 Chicagos.Some forecasts project it will keep growing from there.“These things are industrial on a scale I have never seen in my life,” former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told a House committee earlier this year.Power use by U.S. data centers is growing exponentially, with large forecast uncertaintySource: Washington Post analysis of IEA, BNEF, LBNL and EPRI estimates. Past uncertainty stems from varying inventories of data centers and assumptions about their utilization.Tech companies that once pledged to use clean energy alone are fast reconsidering. They now need too much uninterrupted power, too fast. According to the International Energy Agency, the No. 1 power source to meet this need will be natural gas.“While we remain committed to our climate moonshots, it’s become clear that achieving them is now more complex and challenging across every level,” Google states in its 2025 environmental impact report. The company says meeting its goal of eliminating all emissions by 2030 has become “very difficult.”Data center firms have already approached the Homer City project’s natural gas provider, EQT, seeking enough fuel to power the equivalent of eight more Homer City projects around the country, EQT CEO Toby Rice said in an interview. And EQT is just one of dozens of U.S. natural gas suppliers.What’s at stakeData centers’ surging electricity needs are straining America’s aging power grid and undercutting tech companies’ climate goals.A single supersized “data campus” would draw as much power as millions of homes.The boom is riding on burning huge amounts of planet-warming natural gas, once cast as a transition fuel on the way to a cleaner grid.Not building the projects, however, risks ceding AI dominance to China.Some question if all these gas power plants will be necessary as AI technology rapidly becomes more efficient.“We’ll be shipping more gas than we ever thought,” said Arshad Mansoor, president and CEO of the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute. “We are even unretiring coal.”Mansoor predicts it will all work out: He and others in the industry foresee the crushing demand leading to swift breakthroughs in clean energy innovation and deployment. That could include futuristic fusion power, they said, or more conventional technologies that capture natural gas emissions.But some are more skeptical. The independent monitor charged with keeping tabs on the PJM power grid — which serves 65 million customers in the eastern U.S. — is warning that it can’t handle more data centers. It urged federal regulators to indefinitely block more data centers on its grid to protect existing customers.Even in cities yearning to become the next data center hub — with unions welcoming the burst of construction jobs and elected officials offering lucrative tax packages — some apprehension remains.“It’s going to be new to everybody,” said Steffee, of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. “We all have to figure out how to start transitioning into this and what the ripple effects will be.”Homer City offers a glimpse of what is coming nationwide.In the Texas Panhandle, the company Fermi America broke ground this year on what it says will be a 5,800-acre complex of gas plants and giant nuclear reactors that would ultimately feed up to 18 million square feet of on-site data centers. It would dwarf Homer City in energy use.Tech companies are planning data ‘campuses’ that would dwarf existing centersIn Cheyenne, Wyoming, developers are aiming to generate 10 gigawatts of electricity for on-site data centers. That’s enough energy to power every house in Wyoming 20 times over. In rural Louisiana, Meta is building a $30 billion cluster of data center buildings that will stretch nearly the length and width of Manhattan.Such facilities will create a major climate challenge. By the mid 2030s, forecasts show the world’s data centers could drive as much carbon pollution as the New York, Chicago and Houston metro areas combined.Check our workDrone video of the Homer City power plant post-demolition courtesy of Homer City Redevelopment LLC. Photo of the power plant before demolition by Keith Srakocic/AP.The data centers map is based on extracts from datacentermap.com and CleanView. The map showing planned projects includes sites already under construction.The chart showing the aggregate power demand from U.S. data centers averages historical estimates and future projections from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, IEA, BloombergNEF and EPRI.To estimate the power consumption of a data center, The Post assumed a 67 percent utilization rate. For comparison, residential electricity use in various cities was estimated from household counts and state-level per-household averages from the EIA.

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Polar bear DNA changing in response to climate change

A new study has found that polar bear DNA might be evolving to help these creatures adapt to the stresses of our changing climate. The post Polar bear DNA changing in response to climate change first appeared on EarthSky.

According to new research, polar bear DNA might be changing to help these creatures adapt to a changing climate. Image via Hans-Jurgen Mager/ Unsplash. EarthSky’s 2026 lunar calendar is available now. Get yours today! Makes a great gift. By Alice Godden, University of East Anglia. Edits by EarthSky. The Arctic Ocean current is at its warmest in the last 125,000 years, and temperatures continue to rise. Due to these warming temperatures, more than 2/3 of polar bears are expected to be extinct by 2050. Total extinction is predicted by the end of this century. But in our new study, my colleagues and I found that the changing climate has been driving changes in polar bear DNA, potentially allowing them to more readily adapt to warmer habitats. Provided these polar bears can source enough food and breeding partners, this suggests they may potentially survive these new challenging climates. Polar bear DNA is changing We discovered a strong link between rising temperatures in southeast Greenland and changes in the polar bear genome, which is the entire set of DNA found in an organism. DNA is the instruction book inside every cell, guiding how an organism grows and develops. In processes called transcription and translation, DNA is copied to generate RNA. These are messenger molecules that transmit genetic information. This can lead to the production of proteins, and copies of transposons, also known as “jumping genes.” These are mobile pieces of the genome that can move around and influence how other genes work. Different regions, different genomes Our research revealed big differences in the temperatures in the northeast of Greenland compared with the southeast. We used publicly available polar bear genetic data from a research group at the University of Washington, U.S., to support our study. This dataset was generated from blood samples collected from polar bears in both northern and south-eastern Greenland. Our work built on a Washington University study which discovered that this southeastern population of Greenland polar bears was genetically different to the north-eastern population. Southeastern bears had migrated from the north and became isolated and separate approximately 200 years ago, it found. Researchers from Washington had extracted RNA – the genetic messenger molecules – from polar bear blood samples and sequenced it. We used this sequencing to look at RNA expression – essentially showing which genes are active – in relation to the climate. This gave us a detailed picture of gene activity, including the behavior of the “jumping genes,” or transposons. Temperatures in Greenland have been closely monitored and recorded by the Danish Meteorological Institute. So we linked this climate data with the RNA data to explore how environmental changes may be influencing polar bear biology. Polar bears face challenging conditions thanks to climate change. But they might be responding to this challenge at a genetic level. Image via Dick Val Beck/ Polar Bears International. Impacts of temperature change We found that temperatures in the southeast were significantly warmer and fluctuated more than in the northeast. This creates habitat changes and challenges for the polar bears living in these regions. In the southeast of Greenland, the edge of the ice sheet – which spans 80% of Greenland – is rapidly receding. That means vast ice and habitat loss. The loss of ice is a substantial problem for the polar bears. That’s because it reduces the availability of hunting platforms to catch seals, leading to isolation and food scarcity. EarthSky’s Will Triggs spoke to Alysa McCall of Polar Bears International on Arctic Sea Ice day – July 15, 2025 – to hear about how the decline in arctic sea ice is affecting polar bears and beluga whales. How climate is changing polar bear DNA Over time, it’s not unusual for an organism’s DNA sequence to slowly change and evolve. But environmental stress, such as a warmer climate, can accelerate this process. Transposons are like genetic puzzle pieces that can rearrange themselves, sometimes helping animals adapt to new environments. They come in many different families and have slightly different behaviors, but in essence are all mobile fragments that can reinsert randomly anywhere in the genome. Approximately 38.1% of the polar bear genome is made up of transposons. For humans that figure is 45%, and plant genomes can be over 70% transposons. There are small protective molecules called piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs) that can silence the activity of transposons. But when an environmental stress is too strong, these protective piRNAs cannot keep up with the invasive actions of transposons. We found that the warmer southeast climate led to a mass mobilization of these transposons across the polar bear genome, changing its sequence. We also found that these transposon sequences appeared younger and more abundant in the southeastern bears. And over 1,500 of these sequences were upregulated, meaning gene activity was increased. That points to recent genetic changes that may help bears adapt to rising temperatures. What exactly is changing in polar bear DNA? Some of these elements overlap with genes linked to stress responses and metabolism, hinting at a possible role in coping with climate change. By studying these jumping genes, we uncovered how the polar bear genome adapts and responds in the shorter term to environmental stress and warmer climates. Our research found that some genes linked to heat stress, aging and metabolism are behaving differently in the southeast population of polar bears. This suggests they might be adjusting to their warmer conditions. Additionally, we found active jumping genes in parts of the genome that are involved in areas tied to fat processing, which is important when food is scarce. Considering that northern populations eat mainly fatty seals, this could mean that polar bears in the southeast are slowly adapting to eating the rougher plant-based diets that can be found in the warmer regions. Overall, climate change is reshaping polar bear habitats, leading to genetic changes. Bears of southeastern Greenland are evolving to survive these new terrains and diets. Future research could include other polar bear populations living in challenging climates. Understanding these genetic changes helps researchers see how polar bears might survive in a warming world, and which populations are most at risk. Alice Godden, Senior Research Associate, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Bottom line: A new study has found that polar bear DNA might be evolving to help these creatures adapt to our changing climate. Read more: Polar bears have unique ice-repelling furThe post Polar bear DNA changing in response to climate change first appeared on EarthSky.

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Suggested Viewing

Inside The Grand Canyon

This guerrilla style documentary film captures a Colorado River rafting expedition through the Grand Canyon. Exhilarating and sometimes dangerous expeditions like this are not often considered when discussing global climate change but could be helpful to enlighten more folks about the changes to our planet. This rafting trip will soon be a thing of the past with record draughts continuing due to ongoing global climate change caused largely by humans. This is just a tiny slice of natures many warning signs of things to come. We find ourselves in a world of ongoing disbelief and hesitation in lieu of planning for the clear and present dangers from climate change. The Colorado River has already reached devastating levels for communities that depend on the water and electrical power resource. Government study in 2022 showed that Lake Powell could reach ""dead pool"" by 2023. There is no plan to mitigate the catastrophe that will leave over a million and a half people with no electricity.

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Climate

Sustainable

Crossing the Divide

An Iowa farmer reacts swiftly when he hears that radical climate marchers plan to disrupt peace in his tiny town. What he does after that offers a lesson for would-be peacemakers everywhere.

Inspirational

Activism

Climate

Ser Manguezal

Ser Manguezal, created by Eliseu Cavalcante, was inspired by Josué de Castro's book "Of Men and Crabs" from 1967. De Castro was a Brazilian geographer, physician, writer and activist against world hunger. In his book, Castro envisions men as crabs, learning to walk in the mangroves. This relationship between them seems to unify and blend all together making the human being part of that specific biome. This film is part of an ongoing project that examines those who depend on the mangrove ecosystem to survive, and the delicate relationship between humans and this particular ecosystem. It seeks to recognize the hard-working crab hunters of the mangroves and make their work more visible, and to bring awareness about the importance of mangroves to the environment. Worldwide, 3,400 square kilometers (1,300 square miles) of mangrove forests were lost between 2000 and 2016, or about 2% of the global mangrove area (NASA). About 62% of the losses were due to direct human causes such as agriculture and aquaculture. Mangrove degradation is greater than the average for tropical and subtropical forest loss.

Water

Conservation

Plants

Talking Trees

Yes, trees can talk. They communicate through their roots. Please listen to what they have to say in this short film.

Forests

Extinction

Climate

We Trees

Ever wonder what trees think of us now that we have created a climate disaster? This 2-minute film answers that question. As Bill McKibben recently tweeted about the film, “Who speaks for trees? In this short and elegant video, the trees themselves.” It has been screened at Green Fest (Serbia), The Colorado Environmental Film Festival, The Wildlife Conservation Film Festival and Winner of Merit at the Nature Without Borders Film Festival.

Forests

Chemicals

Climate

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How Climate Change Threatens Costa Rica’s Peatlands

Related News

How the devil is in the details of greener new jobs

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Climate change is rewriting polar bear DNA

Supersized data centers are coming. See how they will transform America.

Polar bear DNA changing in response to climate change

Suggested Viewing

Inside The Grand Canyon

Crossing the Divide

Ser Manguezal

Talking Trees

We Trees

Join us to forgea sustainable future

sign up for our mailing list to stay informed on the latest films and environmental headlines.

Join us to forge
a sustainable future