In a new study published this week (Wednesday 9 October) in the journal Biological
Conservation, an international team of researchers recommends the need for
additional measures to protect and conserve one of the most iconic Antarctic
species – the emperor penguin (Aptenodyptes forsteri).
The researchers reviewed over 150 studies on the species and its environment
as well as its behaviour and character in relation to its breeding biology.
Current climate change projections indicate that rising temperatures and
changing wind patterns will impact negatively the sea ice on which emperor
penguins breed; and some studies indicate that emperor populations will
decrease by more than 50% over the current century. The researchers therefore
recommend that the IUCN status for the species be escalated to ‘vulnerable’;
the species is currently listed as ‘near threatened’ on the IUCN Red List.
They conclude that improvements in climate change forecasting in relation
to impacts on Antarctic wildlife would be beneficial, and recommend that the
emperor penguin should be listed by the Antarctic Treaty as a Specially
Protected Species.
Lead author Dr Philip Trathan, Head of Conservation Biology at British
Antarctic Survey, says:
“The current rate of warming in parts of the Antarctic is greater than
anything in the recent glaciological record. Though emperor penguins have
experienced periods of warming and cooling over their evolutionary history, the
current rates of warming are unprecedented.”
“Currently, we have no idea how the emperors will adjust to the loss of
their primary breeding habitat – sea ice. They are not agile and climbing
ashore across steep coastal land forms will be difficult. For breeding, they
depend upon sea ice, and in a warming world there is a high probability that
this will decrease. Without it, they will have little or no breeding
habitat.”
Greater protection measures will enable scientists to coordinate research
into the penguins’ resilience to a range of different threats and stressors.
Dr Peter Fretwell, remote sensing specialist at British Antarctic Survey and
co-author says:
“Some colonies of emperor penguins may not survive the coming decades, so we
must work to give as much protection as we can to the species to give them the
best chance.”
The UK, supported by a number of other countries whose researchers have
engaged in this scientific work, notified the Antarctic Treaty Consultative
Meeting at its 2019 meeting, held in Prague in July, that Emperor Penguins were
threatened through the loss of their breeding habitat and that further
protections should be developed. A similar paper has also been submitted
to this year’s Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living
Resources, which meets in Hobart later this month, where the UK is also
supporting a number of proposals to extend the coverage of Marine Protected
Areas in the Southern Ocean.
ENDS
The emperor penguin – vulnerable to projected rates of warming and
sea ice loss by Philip N. Trathan, Barbara Wienecke, Christophe
Barbraud, Stéphanie Jenouvrier, Gerald Kooyman, Céline Le Bohec, David G.
Ainley, André Ancel, Daniel P. Zitterbart, Steven L. Chown, Michelle Larue,
Robin Cristofari, Jane Younger, Gemma Clucas, Charles-André Bost, Jennifer A.
Brown, Harriet J. Gillett, PeterT. Fretwell is published in the journal Biological
Conservation published by Elsevier on Wednesday 9 October 2019 (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2019.108216).
Notes for Editors:
Issued by the British Antarctic Survey Press Office.
Athena Dinar amdi@bas.ac.uk tel. +44 (0)
1223 221441, mobile: +44 (0)7909 008516
Copies of this paper are available to credentialed journalists upon request;
please contact Elsevier’s Newsroom at newsroom@elsevier.com or
+31 20 485 2719.
Images and footage of emperor penguins is available from the BAS Press
Office or from the ftp site:
Pictures:
ftp://ftp.nerc-bas.ac.uk/pub/photo/emperor_penguins/pictures/
Video:
ftp://ftp.nerc-bas.ac.uk/pub/photo/emperor_penguins/video/
To download individual files: do not use an FTP Client,
simply open the above link with any standard web browser (Firefox, IE, Safari
etc), right click on the filename and select ‘save target/link/file as’ to
begin the download.
To download folders: use an FTP client (such as the free
FileZilla). Login with the user and as the password.
NB: if (on a Mac) you are asked to ‘log in’ simply click on to
proceed
Further information
The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, founded in 1964, is the world’s
most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biological
species. It uses a set of criteria to evaluate the extinction risk of thousands
of species and subspecies. It defines a “Vulnerable” species as one likely to
become endangered unless the circumstances that are threatening its survival
and reproduction improve. Vulnerability is often caused by decreases in
population resulting from habitat loss or destruction of the species home.
“Vulnerable” is a step higher than ‘Near threatened”.
Emperor penguins are unique amongst birds in that they breed on seasonal
Antarctic sea ice. They need sea ice during the time that they incubate their
eggs and whilst they raise their chicks. Emperors also need stable sea ice
after they complete breeding during the time when they undertake their annual
moult, a period during which they cannot enter the water as their feathers are
no longer waterproof.
The first emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) ever captured was
probably taken 200 years ago during the Russian Naval Expedition of 1819-1821,
under the command of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. The species was first
described scientifically and distinguished from its closest relative, the king
penguin (A. patagonicus), in 1844 by George Robert Gray, head of
ornithology at the British Museum. Gray examined and described specimens from
the British Naval Expedition of 1839-1843, under the command of James Clarke
Ross, and named the emperor penguin with its specific Latin name in honour of
Johann Reinhold Forster, the naturalist on James Cook’s second voyage of
1772-1775.
Prior to breeding, both males and females must build their body reserves,
necessary for females to lay their single egg, and for males to fast while
undertaking the entire egg incubation during the Antarctic winter. Birds gather
at their preferred sites from April onwards, upon development of stable fast
ice. Courtship, egg laying and incubation occur as winter proceeds. Chicks
hatch and are brooded during July and August, the coldest time in Antarctica.
Chicks then begin to crèche in September, when left alone in the colony so that
both parents can forage simultaneously to satisfy the chick’s growing demands.
Chicks are provisioned by both parents until they fledge, usually during
December, just before the fast ice begins to break out. By this time, chicks
must have replaced their natal down with feathers that provide water-proofing
and insulation.
Adults moult between January and March, on accessible islands, on the
continental ice cap where it is accessible, on sea ice, or consolidated pack
ice, floes that normally drift with the ocean and wind, but which may merge and
combine. Unlike all other seabird families, penguins undertake a catastrophic
moult, during which they replace their entire plumage within a few weeks; during
this time, their plumage no longer provides water-proofing and they cannot
enter the sea. Thus, they must have a stable platform and sufficient body
reserves to moult successfully.
Emperor penguins depend upon stable sea ice throughout their breeding period.
Consequently, late sea ice formation, early break up, or even complete failure
of fast ice formation, strongly reduces the chances of successful breeding and
species persistence at any given breeding location.
Philip Trathan and Peter Fretwell were funded partly by the Natural
Environment Research Council and by the charity WWF.
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS), an institute of the
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), delivers and enables world-leading
interdisciplinary research in the Polar Regions. Its skilled science and
support staff based in Cambridge, Antarctica and the Arctic, work together to
deliver research that uses the Polar Regions to advance our understanding of
Earth as a sustainable planet. Through its extensive logistic capability and
know-how BAS facilitates access for the British and international science
community to the UK polar research operation. Numerous national and
international collaborations, combined with an excellent infrastructure help
sustain a world leading position for the UK in Antarctic affairs. For more
information visit www.bas.ac.uk
