This dataset contains GIS layers that depict the known spatial distributions (i.e., ranges) of the two subspecies of bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus). It was produced as part of a U.S. Endangered Species Act status review, which included delineating the species in question and assessing its risk of extinction within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range. Its boundaries are based on previously published range maps and/or descriptions of the species' distribution in published or unpublished accounts. All boundaries should be considered approximate. The approximate North American boundary between the two sub-species was changed to 130W (from 112W), based a re-analysis of the genetic data.

Relatively little is known of the diet and foraging behaviors of the four species of ice-associated seals (ribbon seal, bearded seal, spotted seal, and ringed seal) and harbor seals in Alaska. What is known comes largely from stomach contents of animals harvested during subsistence hunting near coastal communities. Diet and foraging ecology are likely highly sensitive to the availability of suitable habitats and sea ice conditions. They may be particularly vulnerable to climatic change and other disruptions from more direct anthropogenic effects such as offshore oil and gas development. Our ability to predict and manage for such impacts, however, is limited by our inadequate knowledge of seal ecology. This database contains diet data obtained by scat samples from seals across a variety of research projects. Scat samples were collected from ribbon and spotted seals in the pack ice in the Bering Sea during April, May, and June of 2007-2010, and 2014. The diet data in this database were obtained by analyzing otoliths from these scats. Scat samples have also been collected from harbor seals from Lake Iliamna in July-August 2015, and from the Aleutian Islands in September 2015. Diet data based on otoliths from these scats will also be recorded in this dataset.

Polar Ecosystems Program research projects focus primarily on abundance, trends, distribution, health and condition, and foraging behavior of phocids (harbor, bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals) in Alaska. This database contains health and disease data obtained by analysis of different blood parameters, molecular analysis of swabs, stable isotope analysis, and contaminant analysis from seals across a variety of research projects. Biological samples (e.g. blood, tissue, hair, nasal swabs, and whiskers) have been collected from ribbon and spotted seals in the Bering Sea, bearded seals in the Bering and Chukchi Seas, and harbor seals in the north Pacific and Bering Sea. Ribbon seal samples were collected in 2005-2010, 2014; spotted seal samples were collected in 2005-2010, 2014; bearded seal samples were collected in 2007, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014; ringed seal samples were collected in 2007-2009; harbor seal samples were collected in 2004-2006, 2012.

Polar Ecosystems Program research projects focus primarily on abundance, trends, distribution, health and condition, and foraging behavior of phocids (harbor, bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals) in Alaska. This database represents a collection of morphometrics obtained from all of these species across a variety of research projects. Morphometric data were collected from seals that were captured and sampled in the north Pacific, Bering and Chukchi Seas, in 2004-2012, 2014, 2015. There are also morphometric data from ribbon, spotted, and bearded seals that were collected during a research cruise in 1991. Data collected include lengths, girths, mass, and blubber thickness.

Polar Ecosystems Program research projects focus primarily on abundance, trends, distribution, health and condition, and foraging behavior of phocids (harbor, bearded, ringed, spotted, and ribbon seals) in Alaska. This database represents data associated with live captures and specimen collection of all these species across a variety of research projects. Data include information such as capture date, location, time, and handling time, as well as information about each animal (e.g., age, sex, molt, pregnancy status, pelage type). These data are most useful when combined in a relational manner with other datasets (e.g. telemetry, health and disease, morphometrics).