ArticleGlobal change biology2021
Long-term increases in pathogen seroprevalence in polar bears (Ursus maritimus) influenced by climate change.
Article in Global change biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 38 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effectiveness of Postharvest Processing on Microbiological Safety of Game Meat-A Systematic Review.Comprehensive reviews in food science and food safety · 2026Pooled it
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- Validation of an optimized in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for enhanced detection ofFood and waterborne parasitology · 2026Article
- Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae clone reemergence in association with a multi-year mass mortality event in high Arctic muskoxen (Ovibos moschatus).Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Investigation of the Correlation Between ELISA and Serum Amyloid A in the Diagnosis of Bordetella bronchiseptica in Dogs.Veterinary medicine and science · 2025Article
- Review
- Zoonotic infections of the Canadian Arctic.CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne · 2025Review
- Comparative review of One Health and Indigenous approaches to wildlife research in Inuit Nunangat.One health (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2024Review
- Assessing the impact of preventative measures to limit the spread of Toxoplasma gondii in wild carnivores of Madagascar.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2024Article
- The geographic distribution, and the biotic and abiotic predictors of select zoonotic pathogen detections in Canadian polar bears.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Wildlife parasitology: sample collection and processing, diagnostic constraints, and methodological challenges in terrestrial carnivores.Parasites & vectors · 2024Review
- Article
- Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus L.) in northern Sweden: a cross-sectional study from 2014.Acta veterinaria Scandinavica · 2023Article
- Socio-economic predictors of Inuit hunting choices and their implications for climate change adaptation.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2023Article
- A new multiplexed magnetic capture-Droplet digital PCR tool for monitoring wildlife population health and pathogen surveillance.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- Article
- A Review of Circumpolar Arctic Marine Mammal Health-A Call to Action in a Time of Rapid Environmental Change.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Widespread Exposure to Mosquitoborne California Serogroup Viruses in Caribou, Arctic Fox, Red Fox, and Polar Bears, Canada.Emerging infectious diseases · 2023Article
- Drivers of polar bear behavior and the possible effects of prey availability on foraging strategy.Movement ecology · 2022Article
- Immunoproteomic Analysis ofPathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The influence of climate change on wildlife disease dynamics is a burgeoning conservation and human health issue, but few long-term studies empirically link climate to pathogen prevalence. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) are vulnerable to the negative impacts of sea ice loss as a result of accelerated Arctic warming. While studies have associated changes in polar bear body condition, reproductive output, survival, and abundance to reductions in sea ice, no long-term studies have documented the impact of climate change on pathogen exposure. We examined 425 serum samples from 381 adult polar bears, collected in western Hudson Bay (WH), Canada, for antibodies to selected pathogens across three time periods: 1986-1989 (n = 157), 1995-1998 (n = 159) and 2015-2017 (n = 109). We ran serological assays for antibodies to seven pathogens: Toxoplasma gondii, Neospora caninum, Trichinella spp., Francisella tularensis, Bordetella bronchiseptica, canine morbillivirus (CDV) and canine parvovirus (CPV). Seroprevalence of zoonotic parasites (T. gondii, Trichinella spp.) and bacterial pathogens (F. tularensis, B. bronchiseptica) increased significantly between 1986-1989 and 1995-1998, ranging from +6.2% to +20.8%, with T. gondii continuing to increase into 2015-2017 (+25.8% overall). Seroprevalence of viral pathogens (CDV, CPV) and N. caninum did not change with time. Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence was higher following wetter summers, while seroprevalences of Trichinella spp. and B. bronchiseptica were positively correlated with hotter summers. Seroprevalence of antibodies to F. tularensis increased following years polar bears spent more days on land, and polar bears previously captured in human settlements were more likely to be seropositive for Trichinella spp. As the Arctic has warmed due to climate change, zoonotic pathogen exposure in WH polar bears has increased, driven by numerous altered ecosystem pathways.
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