Global warming puts penguins at risk of extinction
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.
 Image courtesy of Dr. Yvon Le Maho. |
Though there are presently more than two million breeding pairs of King Penguins living on the islands at the northern reaches of Antarctica, an international team of researchers report that climate-induced changes in the marine ecosystem could have a dramatic impact on the bird, which is the world’s second largest species of penguin.
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.”
 Image courtesy of PNAS. |
The researchers say other seabird communities in Antarctica might be also be affected by warming in the Southern Ocean.
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
