An emperor penguin colony in Antarctica fainted

The second largest emperor penguin colony in Antarctica collapsed in 2016, with more than ten thousand chicks lost and the population has not recovered, according to a new study.

Many adults have been relocated to nearby locations, as shown by the satellite imagery, but the fact that emperor penguins are vulnerable in what is considered the safest part of their area raises serious long-term concerns. said Phil. Trathan, co-author of the article and director of conservation biology at the British Antarctic Survey in Cambridge, England.

"It means these places are not as safe as we thought before," Trathan said.

The Halley Bay colony has almost disappeared, said the British Antarctic Survey research team in a statement.

Emperor penguins – the largest in the world – breed and feather on the pack ice, as well as pieces of frozen salt water. Clumsy on land, they can not climb icy cliffs and are vulnerable to the warmer climate and strong winds that hit the ice. With an El Niño event that was strongest in sixty years, September 2015 was a particularly busy month of storms in the Antarctic Halley Bay region, with strong winds and extremely low pack ice.

The penguins generally stayed here from April to December when their chicks were developing feathers to fly, but the storm had occurred before the chicks were old enough.

According to Trathan, these conditions appear to have resulted in the loss of about 14,500 and 25,000 eggs or chicks this first year and the colony did not recover. The study described the three-year decline as unprecedented: "Three years of almost total failure in parenting".

Even in this case, the population of Halley Bay represents only about 8% of the world's population of emperor penguins, said Trathan, so this loss does not pose a threat to the population. the future of the species. About 130,000 to 250,000 pairs of emperor penguins with the ability to procreate live in 54 settlements around the world, he said.

British researchers have been studying penguins in the area since 1956 and have never seen a decline of this magnitude, he said.

Other scientists have predicted drastic reductions in emperor penguin populations by the end of the century due to climate change. Stephanie Jenouvrier, a research badociate at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Mbadachusetts, has predicted a global decline of 30% in the decades to come. His model did not include significant events such as the 2015 storm season, which would most likely worsen the situation, he said.

Several researchers indicated that they were encouraged by satellite evidence that many animals were transferred to a colony called Dawson-Lambton, about 50 kilometers to the south, where penguins were multiplied by ten. the last years.

"It was a very big movement and a lot of birds that could move between two colonies after an extreme event," Jenouvrier said. "I think it's nice to be able to show that."

Heather Lynch, badociate professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University in New York City, described relocation as "extreme hope," a sign that animals would be able to adapt climate change, at least in the short term. In previous models, researchers have often badumed that penguins would not find another home.

"I hope there are shelters for those who can move for at least some time and that this can alleviate some of the most dramatic effects of climate change," Lynch said.

The new study also shows the power of satellite data to track species in the most inaccessible parts of the planet. "At least we have a way to keep an eye on these birds in the most remote areas of the world," he said.

Even so, the decline in the Halley Bay population is problematic because it has been rapid, rather than gradual, in the face of climate change.

"You do not know how close you are to the cliff until it's too late and you can not badume that you can go back once you're there," he said. Lynch.