Emperor penguin at serious risk of extinction as a result of climate change
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2022-05-08 18:54:19
#Emperor #penguin #risk #extinction #due #climate #change
The emperor penguin is at extreme risk of extinction in the next 30 to 40 years because of climate change, in response to research by the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA).
Key points:Penguin chicks succumb to freezing or drowning when exposed to the ocean earlier than they grow their waterproof plumageIf nothing changes, many colonies will disappear in the next 30 to 40 yearsTourist and fishing exercise additionally harms the penguins, disrupting the meals cycleThe emperor, the world's largest penguin and considered one of only two penguin species endemic to Antarctica, gives beginning 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 can not full its reproductive cycle.
"If the water reaches the newborn penguins, which are not able to swim and would not have waterproof plumage, they die of the cold and drown," stated biologist Marcela Libertelli, who has studied 15,000 penguins throughout two colonies in Antarctica at the IAA.
This has occurred on the Halley Bay colony in the Weddell Sea, the second-largest Emperor penguin colony, where 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 journey 65 km every day by bike in temperatures as low as -40 levels Celsius to achieve the nearest Emperor penguin colony.
As soon as there, they depend, weigh, and measure the chicks, collect geographical coordinates, and take blood samples. They also conduct aerial analysis.
Each August, researchers from Argentina's Antarctic Institute travel to Halley Bay to study the colony's chicks.(British Antarctic Survey: Peter Fretwell)The scientists' findings point to a grim future for the species if climate change will not be mitigated.
"[Climate] projections suggest that the colonies which are positioned between latitudes 60 and 70 levels [south] will disappear in the subsequent few a long time; that is, within the next 30, 40 years," Dr Libertelli said.
The emperor's distinctive features include the longest reproductive cycle among penguins.
After a chick is born, one parent continues carrying it between its legs for warmth until it develops its closing plumage.
"The disappearance of any species is a tragedy for the planet. Whether or not small or giant, plant or animal — it doesn't matter. It is a loss for biodiversity," Dr Libertelli said.
The emperor penguin's disappearance could have a dramatic affect throughout Antarctica, an extreme atmosphere where meals chains have fewer members and fewer links, Dr Libertelli said.
In early April, the World Meteorological Organization warned of "more and more extreme temperatures coupled with uncommon rainfall and ice melting in Antarctica" — a "worrying trend", said Dr Libertelli, with Antarctic ice sheets depleting since no less than 1999.
The rise of tourism and fishing in Antarctica have additionally put the emperor's future in danger by affecting krill, one of many primary sources of food for penguins and other species.
"Tourist boats often have varied destructive effects on Antarctica, as do the fisheries," Dr Libertelli said.
"It can be crucial that there is larger management and that we take into consideration the longer term."
Reuters
Quelle: www.abc.net.au