Dynamic fine-scale sea-icescape shapes adult emperor penguin foraging habitat in East Antarctica

• Main Authors: Barbraud, Christophe, Bost, Charles-André, Fraser, Alexander, Jenouvrier, Stephanie, Ji, Rubao, Jonsen, Ian, Kirkwood, Roger, Labrousse, Sara, Pinaud, David, Porter-Smith, Rick, Resinger, Ryan, Ropert-Coudert, Yan, Sumner, Michael, Tamura, Takeshi, Wienecke, Barbara
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: U.S. Antarctic Program (USAP) Data Center 2019
• Subjects: animal behavior observation; Penguin; GPS; Biology; Antarctica; Southern Ocean; Biosphere; Cryosphere; Oceans; East Antarctica; Antarc*; Emperor penguins; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.15784/601209; http://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601209

The emperor penguin, an iconic species threatened by projected sea-ice loss in Antarctica, has long been considered to forage at the fast ice edge, presumably relying on large/yearly-persistent polynyas as their main foraging habitat during the breeding season. Using newly developed fine-scale sea-icescape data and historical penguin tracking data, this study for the first time suggests the importance of less-recognized small openings, including cracks, flaw leads and ephemeral short-term polynyas, as foraging habitats for emperor penguins. The tracking data retrieved from 47 emperor penguins in two different colonies in East Antarctica suggest that those penguins spent 23% of their time in ephemeral polynyas and did not use the large/yearly-persistent, well-studied polynyas, even they occur much more regularly with predictable locations. These findings challenge our previous understanding of emperor penguin breeding habitats, highlighting the need for incorporating fine-scale seascape features when assessing the population persistence in a rapidly changing polar environment.