Guest editorial—the ballyhoo over polar bears

Abstract

Critics have said that there’s little or no justification for the focus that polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have received as a threatened species. Recent studies project dramatic reductions in polar bear numbers in just a few decades, in concert with the equally dramatic reduction in critical sea-ice habitat, yet there are undoubtedly ecologically more “important” species in tropical and temperate latitudes that are facing equal or more urgent problems at present.