Two Recent Massive Breeding Failures in an Adélie Penguin Colony Call for the Creation of a Marine Protected Area in D'Urville Sea/Mertz

• Published in: Frontiers in Marine Science
• Main Authors: Ropert‐Coudert, Yan, Kato, Akiko, Shiomi, Kozue, Barbraud, Christophe, Angelier, Frédéric, Delord, Karine, Poupart, Timothée, Koubbi, Philippe, Raclot, Thierry
• Other Authors: Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Université de La Rochelle (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE), National Institute of Polar Research Tokyo (NiPR), School of Life and Environmental Sciences Deakin University, Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA), Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: seabirds; extreme events; marine protected areas; eco-indicating species; Sea ice; breeding; foraging; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; D'Urville Sea; East Antarctica; Ile des Pétrels; Mertz Glacier; Pétrels; Terre Adélie; Terre-Adélie; Antarc*; Antarctica; D’Urville Sea
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01912177; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2018.00264

International audience In the d’Urville Sea in East Antarctica, a population of roughly 20,000 pairs of Adéliepenguins of Iles des Pétrels (Terre Adélie) has experienced two massive breeding failures,with no chick surviving the 2013–14 and 2016–17 breeding seasons. In both seasonsthe extent of sea ice in front of the colony persisted throughout the breeding cycle ofthe birds. The timing of sea-ice recession differed greatly between seasons and theabsence of polynya in a crucial phase of the cycle were paramount in driving thesefailures. The change in the icescape in front of Ile des Pétrels following the calving ofthe Mertz glacier in 2010, together with increase in precipitations and changes in sea-icefirmness explain this situation and are discussed in the present manuscript. To preventadditional future impacts on this colony, like competition with fisheries for instance, westrongly support a scientific research zone in the d’Urville Sea—Mertz area, one of thethree zones of proposed Marine Protected Area in East Antarctica to the Commission forthe Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.