evidence: The Barents Sea is home to one of the world’s 19 recognized polar bear populations. But in recent decades, sea ice has been diminishing more quickly here than anywhere else in the Arctic. As Jon Aars explains, it hasn’t yet led to population declines, but it is affecting the bears’ lives in several ways. [...] So far, the Svalbard bears are not in poor condition, and they are still reproducing. The question is: why do they seem to be thriving despite having access to less sea ice? There are a few possible answers. It could be that the density of bears is still low compared to what it was before people started to hunt. That would mean less competition for food resources. Another relevant factor is that polar bears are good at adapting and using every resource they can find. [...] It will be interesting to see how the local Svalbard bears do in future years as the sea ice continues to diminish. Unlike polar bears in some other Arctic areas, they have few competitors (such as brown bears, wolves or wolverines). But the fact that polar bears depend on sea ice in all the areas they occupy suggests there will be a threshold for this population too. They have proven resilient in the face of challenges so far, but to continue to thrive, they will need access to sea ice to hunt seals for at least a period in spring and early summer.