Emperor penguin at critical risk of extinction due to local weather change
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2022-05-08 18:54:19
#Emperor #penguin #danger #extinction #due #climate #change
The emperor penguin is at extreme risk of extinction in the subsequent 30 to 40 years on account of climate change, in keeping with analysis by the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA).
Key points:Penguin chicks succumb to freezing or drowning when exposed to the ocean earlier than they develop their waterproof plumageIf nothing changes, many colonies will disappear in the subsequent 30 to 40 yearsTourist and fishing activity also harms the penguins, disrupting the food cycleThe emperor, the world's largest penguin and one of solely two penguin species endemic to Antarctica, provides start during the Antarctic winter and requires solid sea ice from April via to December to nest fledgling chicks.
If the ocean freezes later or melts prematurely, the emperor family cannot full its reproductive cycle.
"If the water reaches the new child penguins, which aren't ready to swim and would not have waterproof plumage, they die of the cold and drown," said biologist Marcela Libertelli, who has studied 15,000 penguins across two colonies in Antarctica on the IAA.
This has happened at the Halley Bay colony in the Weddell Sea, the second-largest Emperor penguin colony, the place for 3 years all the chicks died.
Each August, in the midst of the southern hemisphere winter, Dr Libertelli and other scientists at Argentina's Marambio Base in Antarctica travel 65 km each day by motorbike in temperatures as little as -40 levels Celsius to reach the closest Emperor penguin colony.
Once there, they rely, weigh, and measure the chicks, collect geographical coordinates, and take blood samples. In addition they conduct aerial analysis.
Each August, researchers from Argentina's Antarctic Institute travel to Halley Bay to check the colony's chicks.(British Antarctic Survey: Peter Fretwell)The scientists' findings level to a grim future for the species if climate change is just not mitigated.
"[Climate] projections counsel that the colonies that are located between latitudes 60 and 70 degrees [south] will disappear in the subsequent few a long time; that is, in the subsequent 30, 40 years," Dr Libertelli said.
The emperor's unique features embrace the longest reproductive cycle among penguins.
After a chick is born, one father or mother continues carrying it between its legs for heat until it develops its last plumage.
"The disappearance of any species is a tragedy for the planet. Whether small or large, plant or animal — it does not matter. It is a loss for biodiversity," Dr Libertelli mentioned.
The emperor penguin's disappearance could have a dramatic impact throughout Antarctica, an extreme environment where meals chains have fewer members and fewer links, Dr Libertelli said.
In early April, the World Meteorological Group warned of "increasingly extreme temperatures coupled with unusual rainfall and ice melting in Antarctica" — a "worrying trend", said Dr Libertelli, with Antarctic ice sheets depleting since a minimum of 1999.
The rise of tourism and fishing in Antarctica have also put the emperor's future in danger by affecting krill, one of many fundamental sources of food for penguins and other species.
"Tourist boats typically have various unfavourable results on Antarctica, as do the fisheries," Dr Libertelli mentioned.
"It is vital that there is higher management and that we think about the longer term."
Reuters
Quelle: www.abc.web.au