Analyses conducted to determine if pathogen exposure of Chukchi Sea polar bears changed over time and to identify whether exposure might be associated with differences in diet, summer land use, and/or sex/age.

Because adult females were targeted in the historic time period, analyses including historic data were restricted to adult females to avoid potential bias of differences in sex/age class sampling. Cubs were excluded from all analyses due to the potential lack of independence between dependent cubs and mothers. Land use could only be determined for adult females because they are the only sex and age class in which collars can be safely deployed to track habitat use. Separate analyses were conducted because not all data were available for all bears. Samples sizes are provided for specific analyses in tables of results.