Bowhead whale bones in prehistoric Thule Eskimo contexts have been examined since 1975 in the central Canadian Arctic. Approximately 10,500 bones, representing almost 1000 animals, have been counted on the shores of six adjacent islands. Comparisons of Thule-derived bowhead samples with live Beaufort Sea samples and Early Holocene samples indicate that Thule Eskimo hunters selected yearlings and two- to three-year-old subadults, to the almost complete exclusion of calves and adults. Almost all bowheads found at Thule sites measure 7–10 m in length, estimated by regression analyses based on Alaskan bowhead skeletons of known size. Archaeological bowhead bones represent several stages of past hunting and processing behavior, including selective hunting, beach flensing and meal/blubber caching, winter house construction, and bone re-use from house ruins. The availability and abundance of bowheads were primary determinants of Thule subsistence-settlement patterns in this region. Archaeological whale bones arc a nonrenewable cultural resource of the New World Arctic that deserve study and protection.

Between late March and May, from 1971 through 1979, we surveyed 74,332 km2 of sea-ice habitatin the eastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf in the western Canadian Arctic. We defined seven sea-ice habitat types and recorded sightings of polar bears and their tracks in each to determine their habitat preferences. 791 bears (including cubs) and 6454 sets of tracks were recorded. 42.3%, 39.7%, and 15.6% of the bears were seen on floe-edge, moving ice, and drifted fast-ice habitats, respectively. Significant differences in habitat preferences were shown by bears of different sexes and age classes. Adult females accompanied by cubs of the year were the only group that showed a strong preference for fast ice with drifts, probably because they could feed adequately there while avoiding adult males that might prey upon their cubs. The highest densities of seals are found in floe-edge and moving ice habitats and this likely explains the predominance of bears there. Lone adult females and females with two-year-old cubs, adult males, and subadult males were found two and one-half to four times more frequently than predicted in floe-edge habitat. Since there are no data to suggest seals are more abundant along the floe edge than in moving ice habitat, the preference of these groups of adult polar bears for the floe edge in spring may be related to reproductive behavior.

Geographically separated by only 64 km, the Siberian Yupik-speaking communities of Gambell and Novoye Chaplino have endured a politically mandated separation of 40 years. During this period these two small, native comm unities have experienced enormous changes, changes often engendered by the social and economic policies of their nation states. The abandonment of small, native communities in Chukotka under the Soviet policy of ‘settlements without prospects’, the forced resettlement of Chaplino to Novoye Chaplino, and the reorganization of cooperatives into state farms have all had serious detrimental consequences for the organization of subsistence activities in this community. Gambell—with very little economic infrastructure, high unemployment, increased social problems, and some federaland state-mandated management of their natural resources — has managed to maintain high levels of subsistence production. The native language is spoken by youngsters in Gambell but not in Novoye Chaplino. Other important cultural features such as sharing, bride service, and ivory carving have been maintained in Gambell but have been lost in Novoye Chaplino. Contacts between the two communities under the recent policy of glasnost' may bring a revival of these practices back to Novoye Chaplino.

Within the stable political context of the Antarctic Treaty regime, science has flourished, achieving considerable prominence and an increasing global relevance. Issues such as stratospheric ozone depletion and enhanced ultraviolet effects, environmental and climatic archive from ice cores, detection of anthropogenic pollution, study of global climate change (such as the carbon cycle and sea level), and analysis of unique collections of meteorites have attracted and focused unprecedented international attention on Antarctica. In the future, major challenges will continue to emerge in Antarctic science, driven by conceptual breakthroughs, innovative field research, and rapidly developing technology. Today's fashionable topics such as global wanning, biodiversity, thecarbon pump, and ozone loss may soon fade. What will replace them remains uncertain. The study of the coupling of presently diverse whole-earth systems appears a possibility: the biogeochemical coupling of landmasses, oceans, and ice geared to the study and provision of new food resources, to meet the demands of a world population in exponential growth, will feature considerably in the next century and involve much Antarctic research. Future science will develop against a backdrop of heightening external pressures: (1) the competing demands from the AntarcticTreaty System, including environmental concerns and possible operating restrictions, and the requirement to provide expert opinion from specialised research, (2) increasing problems of the coordination of an expanding and diverse scientific community, (3) the high cost and level of sophistication of modern research, and (4) accountability, particularly in respect of quality scientific results. Within each of these areas national programmes will assess and determine priorities for the future, which will severely test existing systems for collaboration, logistics sharing, and financial underpinning. Attention will need to be directed at a critical evaluation of the international mechanisms and frameworks for establishing the details of the Antarctic scientific agenda, and its meshing with discipline-based research in general.

Epontic and benthic amphipods (Onisimus litoralis, Onisimus juveniles, Gammarus setosus, Anonyx nugax, and A. makarovi) and a pelagic mysid (Mysis oculatus) were collected under ice at Little Cornwallis Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. They were exposed, on site, to dissolved zinc and lead to determine lethal concentrations (LC50s). Incidental information was obtained on salinity and temperature tolerance. Subsequent testing of a temperate amphipod and oyster larvae exposed to the two metals provided comparative data to augment a literature review. The Arctic invertebrates were surprisingly insensitive under all test conditions. The implications for Arctic developments, particularly those involving near-shore, point-source discharges, are discussed and recommendations are made for effectively expanding a presently depauperate Arctic marine toxicity database.

In July 1992 two aerial surveys were conducted to assess the size of the walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) population at haul-out sites reported on the northwest coast of Spitsbergen and on Moffen. Walrus have been extensively hunted in Svalbard during the past 350 years, and in 1952 concern about decreasing stocks caused the Norwegian government to pass a law protecting the animals from hunting. At the time of the survey, it is likely that the walrus would have been at some stage of the moult, and it is tentatively suggested that the physiological changes reported to take place during moulting can cause lethargy and sluggishness that may make walrus less susceptible to disturbance by engine noise. Thirty-seven walrus were counted on the survey around Moffen, and three walrus on the northwest coast of Spitsbergen three days later.