Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins?
Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri Gray) are the only vertebrate species that breed during the Antarctic winter. From the beginning of the breeding season in April until fledging of the chicks in January, emperor penguins rely on the stability of sea (fast) ice. The International Union for Conse...
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CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
2014
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Online Access: | https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/1/Zitterbart_Antartic_Science_2014.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638.d001 |
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ftawi:oai:epic.awi.de:35704 2024-09-15T17:41:08+00:00 Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? Zitterbart, Daniel Richter, Sebastian Spiekermann, Georg Behrens, Lisa Katharina Regnery, Julia Fontes, René Pascal Hänssler, Thedda König-Langlo, Gert Weller, Rolf Fabry, Ben 2014-05-29 application/pdf https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/1/Zitterbart_Antartic_Science_2014.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638.d001 unknown CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/1/Zitterbart_Antartic_Science_2014.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638.d001 Zitterbart, D. , Richter, S. , Spiekermann, G. , Behrens, L. K. , Regnery, J. , Fontes, R. P. , Hänssler, T. , König-Langlo, G. , Weller, R. orcid:0000-0003-4880-5572 and Fabry, B. (2014) Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? , Antarctic Science . doi:10.1017/S0954102014000285 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102014000285> , hdl:10013/epic.43638 EPIC3Antarctic Science, CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, ISSN: 0954-1020 Article isiRev 2014 ftawi 2024-06-24T04:09:53Z Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri Gray) are the only vertebrate species that breed during the Antarctic winter. From the beginning of the breeding season in April until fledging of the chicks in January, emperor penguins rely on the stability of sea (fast) ice. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently listed the species as ‘near threatened’ because the habitat of emperor penguins may deteriorate significantly over the coming years with the anticipated changes in sea ice conditions due to climate change. Since 2009, four emperor penguin colonies have been observed on ice shelves, as opposed to sea ice, during the breeding season (Fretwell et al. 2014). This striking change in their breeding behaviour was interpreted as an adaptation of emperor penguins to poor sea ice conditions. Here we report that a large part of the emperor penguin colony at Atka Bay (Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica) moved onto the ice shelf during the 2013 breeding season. This colony has been regularly observed since 1981 but has never before been seen breeding, incubating their eggs, brooding or crèching on the ice shelf. Our observations concur with a recent report, which documented that altered breeding behaviour in emperor penguins has occurred almost simultaneously across Antarctica (Fretwell et al. 2014). Interestingly, the sea ice at Atka Bay has been stable for three consecutive seasons and thus cannot have triggered this change in behaviour. Rather, we present evidence of increased snow accumulation that has greatly improved the accessibility of the ice shelves around Atka Bay, and we discuss additional meteorological factors and local topographical conditions that may have contributed to the shift in breeding location from sea ice onto an ice shelf. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri Dronning Maud Land Emperor penguins Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) Antarctic Science 26 5 563 564 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar- and Marine Research (AWI): ePIC (electronic Publication Information Center) |
op_collection_id |
ftawi |
language |
unknown |
description |
Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri Gray) are the only vertebrate species that breed during the Antarctic winter. From the beginning of the breeding season in April until fledging of the chicks in January, emperor penguins rely on the stability of sea (fast) ice. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has recently listed the species as ‘near threatened’ because the habitat of emperor penguins may deteriorate significantly over the coming years with the anticipated changes in sea ice conditions due to climate change. Since 2009, four emperor penguin colonies have been observed on ice shelves, as opposed to sea ice, during the breeding season (Fretwell et al. 2014). This striking change in their breeding behaviour was interpreted as an adaptation of emperor penguins to poor sea ice conditions. Here we report that a large part of the emperor penguin colony at Atka Bay (Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica) moved onto the ice shelf during the 2013 breeding season. This colony has been regularly observed since 1981 but has never before been seen breeding, incubating their eggs, brooding or crèching on the ice shelf. Our observations concur with a recent report, which documented that altered breeding behaviour in emperor penguins has occurred almost simultaneously across Antarctica (Fretwell et al. 2014). Interestingly, the sea ice at Atka Bay has been stable for three consecutive seasons and thus cannot have triggered this change in behaviour. Rather, we present evidence of increased snow accumulation that has greatly improved the accessibility of the ice shelves around Atka Bay, and we discuss additional meteorological factors and local topographical conditions that may have contributed to the shift in breeding location from sea ice onto an ice shelf. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zitterbart, Daniel Richter, Sebastian Spiekermann, Georg Behrens, Lisa Katharina Regnery, Julia Fontes, René Pascal Hänssler, Thedda König-Langlo, Gert Weller, Rolf Fabry, Ben |
spellingShingle |
Zitterbart, Daniel Richter, Sebastian Spiekermann, Georg Behrens, Lisa Katharina Regnery, Julia Fontes, René Pascal Hänssler, Thedda König-Langlo, Gert Weller, Rolf Fabry, Ben Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
author_facet |
Zitterbart, Daniel Richter, Sebastian Spiekermann, Georg Behrens, Lisa Katharina Regnery, Julia Fontes, René Pascal Hänssler, Thedda König-Langlo, Gert Weller, Rolf Fabry, Ben |
author_sort |
Zitterbart, Daniel |
title |
Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
title_short |
Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
title_full |
Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
title_fullStr |
Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
title_full_unstemmed |
Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
title_sort |
are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? |
publisher |
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/ https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/1/Zitterbart_Antartic_Science_2014.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638 https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638.d001 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri Dronning Maud Land Emperor penguins Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Science Antarctica Aptenodytes forsteri Dronning Maud Land Emperor penguins Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Sea ice |
op_source |
EPIC3Antarctic Science, CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS, ISSN: 0954-1020 |
op_relation |
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/35704/1/Zitterbart_Antartic_Science_2014.pdf https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.43638.d001 Zitterbart, D. , Richter, S. , Spiekermann, G. , Behrens, L. K. , Regnery, J. , Fontes, R. P. , Hänssler, T. , König-Langlo, G. , Weller, R. orcid:0000-0003-4880-5572 and Fabry, B. (2014) Are environmental factors responsible for changed breeding behaviour in emperor penguins? , Antarctic Science . doi:10.1017/S0954102014000285 <https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954102014000285> , hdl:10013/epic.43638 |
container_title |
Antarctic Science |
container_volume |
26 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
563 |
op_container_end_page |
564 |
_version_ |
1810487250211831808 |