Adélie Penguins by Suzanne Winquist (she/her/hers)
Adélie penguin Reproduction
The Adélie penguin is a sea-ice species so ocean habitats in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica are crucial during all stages of the species annual cycle. Changes in wind, temperature, and sea ice patterns in some of the more northern regions of the species range in are causing reductions in the size and distribution of Adélie penguin breeding colonies.
The Adélie penguin is a sea-ice obligate species so ocean habitats in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica are crucial during all stages of the species annual cycle. Changes in wind, temperature, and associated sea ice patterns in some of the more northern regions of the species range in are causing reductions in the size and distribution of Adélie penguin breeding colonies. In collaboration with Point Blue Conservation Science and HT Harvey and Associates, this NSF-funded study is designed to investigate the effects of environmental variation on vital rates and population size for Adélie penguins at 3 colonies within a metapopulation in the Southern Ross Sea. The core of our research is a long-term data set (24th season in 2019) on individually marked, known-age, known-breeding history penguins at these 3 colonies. With these data we can estimate population-level vital rates that produce population change, and attempt to understand the ecological factors that affect these vital rates. The southern Ross Sea has experienced a much smaller human footprint than other regions on the planet, so this project provides a unique and invaluable opportunity to disentangle climate change effects from anthropogenic influences for a species sensitive to predicted environmental changes.
