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Global warming puts penguins at risk of extinction mongabay.com February 11, 2008 Climate change could put the long-term survival of sub-Antarctic King Penguins at risk by reducing the availability of prey, reports a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Using subcutaneous electronic tags to study the breeding and survival of penguins on Possession Island in the Crozet Archipelago in the southern Indian Ocean over a nine year period, Céline Le Bohec and colleagues found that warm sea surface temperatures reduced food availability close to the colony during wintering months, decreasing survival rates among adult King Penguins. Their model suggests a 9 percent decline in adult survival for a 0.26°C warming. "Our findings suggest that king penguin populations are at heavy extinction risk under the current global warming predictions," write the authors. "Warm events negatively affect both breeding success and adult survival of this seabird."
Other studies have linked declined sharp declines in Antarctic emperor penguin populations to warming. Like King Penguins, emperor penguins are dependent on the availability of krill and other small crustaceans, which in turn depend on the amount of sea ice in the Southern Ocean. As warmer temperatures reduce the abundance of sea ice, their is less food for penguins. Céline Le Bohec et al (2008). King penguin population threatened by Southern Ocean warming. PNAS for the week of February 11, 2008. www.pnas.orgcgidoi10.1073pnas.0712031105 News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo! Advertisements: Organic Apparel from Patagonia | Insect-repelling clothing |
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