Emperor penguin at severe risk of extinction on account of climate change
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2022-05-08 18:54:19
#Emperor #penguin #threat #extinction #due #climate #change
The emperor penguin is at extreme danger of extinction within the subsequent 30 to 40 years as a result of climate change, according to 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 within the subsequent 30 to 40 yearsTourist and fishing activity also harms the penguins, disrupting the food cycleThe emperor, the world's largest penguin and certainly one of only two penguin species endemic to Antarctica, offers beginning during the Antarctic winter and requires stable sea ice from April by to December to nest fledgling chicks.
If the sea freezes later or melts prematurely, the emperor household can not complete its reproductive cycle.
"If the water reaches the new child penguins, which aren't ready to swim and don't have waterproof plumage, they die of the chilly 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 within the Weddell Sea, the second-largest Emperor penguin colony, where for 3 years all the chicks died.
Each August, in the course of the southern hemisphere winter, Dr Libertelli and different scientists at Argentina's Marambio Base in Antarctica travel 65 km every day by motorbike in temperatures as little as -40 degrees Celsius to achieve the nearest Emperor penguin colony.
As soon as there, they count, weigh, and measure the chicks, collect geographical coordinates, and take blood samples. They also conduct aerial analysis.
Every 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 not mitigated.
"[Climate] projections counsel that the colonies which might be positioned between latitudes 60 and 70 degrees [south] will disappear in the next few a long time; that is, in the subsequent 30, 40 years," Dr Libertelli mentioned.
The emperor's unique options include the longest reproductive cycle among penguins.
After a chick is born, one guardian continues carrying it between its legs for heat until it develops its remaining plumage.
"The disappearance of any species is a tragedy for the planet. Whether small or massive, plant or animal — it doesn't matter. It's a loss for biodiversity," Dr Libertelli said.
The emperor penguin's disappearance might have a dramatic impact all through Antarctica, an excessive setting the place food chains have fewer members and fewer hyperlinks, Dr Libertelli stated.
In early April, the World Meteorological Organization 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 at the least 1999.
The rise of tourism and fishing in Antarctica have additionally put the emperor's future at risk by affecting krill, one of many major sources of food for penguins and other species.
"Tourist boats often have various destructive effects on Antarctica, as do the fisheries," Dr Libertelli stated.
"It will be important that there's better control and that we take into consideration the long run."
Reuters
Quelle: www.abc.web.au