Crum 1

Alan Crum
Mrs. Harrell
English 4 Honors
October 21, 2014
Research Question: Does global warming have an impact on polar bears habitats?
Working Thesis Statement: Because of human interference, polar bears are losing their habitats
due to the increase in polar temperatures causing the environment to melt.
Refined Thesis Statement: Due to human interference, polar bears habitats are depleting
because of the increase in polar temperatures that are causing their environment to melt.
Annotated Bibliography
Dybas, Cheryl Lyn. "Ice Bears On The Edge." Natural History 122.1 (2014): 24-37. General
Science Collection. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
The article discusses how polar bears in Greenland are under a serious threat to their
environment. Global warming and the raise of industrial companies releasing fumes into the
skies have really taken a beating to the polar bears habitat. The rise in pollutants in the air have
been traveling through the air to the artic areas that polar bears inhabit and begin making way
into the bears blood streams. Pollutants such as mercury are mostly found in the polar bears
blood. With warmer temperatures rising in the artic, the ice regions that serve as homes and
hunting grounds for polar bears are beginning to melt. As the ice continues to melt, the polar
bears continue to lose their homes and food sources causing many polar bears to die. This article
will help with my research because it shows the impact of warmer temperatures in the polar
regions on polar bears which helps support my claim.

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McGrath, Susan. "On Thin Ice." National Geographic 220.1 (2011): 63. General Science
Collection. Web. 9 Oct. 2014.
The article discusses how polar bears have had to adapt to the new environment because
of the melting and changing of their habitat. They are having to hunt year round now because of
the lack of food. Their food source is depleting because the ice is melting which is causing less
land and fewer animals to hunt. With the ice melted polar bears are having to swim longer
distances to find their food. These longer swims are causing more and more polar bears to drown
due to exhaustion. The scientists claim that reducing the warming of the atmosphere can save the
polar bears that are still around now. The article can help me with my research because it gives
me facts I need about rising temperatures that will support my claim.