Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation
The consequences of warming for Antarctic long-lived organisms depend on their ability to survive changing patterns of climate and environmental variation. Among birds and mammals of different Antarctic regions, including emperor penguins, snow petrels, southern fulmars, Antarctic fur seals and Wedd...
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:6338 2023-05-15T14:05:16+02:00 Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation Forcada, Jaume Trathan, Philip N Murphy, Eugene J 2008 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6338/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6338/1/GCB2008.pdf https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x en eng Wiley https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6338/1/GCB2008.pdf Forcada, Jaume orcid:0000-0002-2115-0150 Trathan, Philip N orcid:0000-0001-6673-9930 Murphy, Eugene J orcid:0000-0002-7369-9196 . 2008 Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation. Global Change Biology, 14 (11). 2473-2488. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x> Zoology Ecology and Environment Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2008 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x 2023-02-04T19:24:13Z The consequences of warming for Antarctic long-lived organisms depend on their ability to survive changing patterns of climate and environmental variation. Among birds and mammals of different Antarctic regions, including emperor penguins, snow petrels, southern fulmars, Antarctic fur seals and Weddell seals, we found strong support for selection of life history traits that reduce interannual variation in fitness. These species maximize fitness by keeping a low interannual variance in the survival of adults and in their propensity to breed annually, which are the vital rates that influence most the variability in population growth rate (λ). All these species have been able to buffer these rates against the effects of recent climate-driven habitat changes except for Antarctic fur seals, in the Southwest Atlantic. In this region of the Southern Ocean, the rapid increase in ecosystem fluctuation, associated with increasing climate variability observed since 1990, has limited and rendered less predictable the main fur seal food supply, Antarctic krill. This has increased the fitness costs of breeding for females, causing significant short-term changes in population structure through mortality and low breeding output. Changes occur now with a frequency higher than the mean female fur seal generation time, and therefore are likely to limit their adaptive response. Fur seals are more likely to rely on phenotypic plasticity to cope with short-term changes in order to maximize individual fitness. With more frequent extreme climatic events driving more frequent ecosystem fluctuation, the repercussions for life histories in many Antarctic birds and mammals are likely to increase, particularly at regional scales. In species with less flexible life histories that are more constrained by fluctuation in their critical habitats, like sea-ice, this may cause demographic changes, population compensation and changes in distribution, as already observed in penguin species living in the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Emperor penguins Sea ice Snow Petrels Southern Ocean Weddell Seals Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell Global Change Biology 14 11 2473 2488 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
topic |
Zoology Ecology and Environment |
spellingShingle |
Zoology Ecology and Environment Forcada, Jaume Trathan, Philip N Murphy, Eugene J Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
topic_facet |
Zoology Ecology and Environment |
description |
The consequences of warming for Antarctic long-lived organisms depend on their ability to survive changing patterns of climate and environmental variation. Among birds and mammals of different Antarctic regions, including emperor penguins, snow petrels, southern fulmars, Antarctic fur seals and Weddell seals, we found strong support for selection of life history traits that reduce interannual variation in fitness. These species maximize fitness by keeping a low interannual variance in the survival of adults and in their propensity to breed annually, which are the vital rates that influence most the variability in population growth rate (λ). All these species have been able to buffer these rates against the effects of recent climate-driven habitat changes except for Antarctic fur seals, in the Southwest Atlantic. In this region of the Southern Ocean, the rapid increase in ecosystem fluctuation, associated with increasing climate variability observed since 1990, has limited and rendered less predictable the main fur seal food supply, Antarctic krill. This has increased the fitness costs of breeding for females, causing significant short-term changes in population structure through mortality and low breeding output. Changes occur now with a frequency higher than the mean female fur seal generation time, and therefore are likely to limit their adaptive response. Fur seals are more likely to rely on phenotypic plasticity to cope with short-term changes in order to maximize individual fitness. With more frequent extreme climatic events driving more frequent ecosystem fluctuation, the repercussions for life histories in many Antarctic birds and mammals are likely to increase, particularly at regional scales. In species with less flexible life histories that are more constrained by fluctuation in their critical habitats, like sea-ice, this may cause demographic changes, population compensation and changes in distribution, as already observed in penguin species living in the Antarctic Peninsula and adjacent islands. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Forcada, Jaume Trathan, Philip N Murphy, Eugene J |
author_facet |
Forcada, Jaume Trathan, Philip N Murphy, Eugene J |
author_sort |
Forcada, Jaume |
title |
Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
title_short |
Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
title_full |
Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
title_fullStr |
Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
title_full_unstemmed |
Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
title_sort |
life history buffering in antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6338/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6338/1/GCB2008.pdf https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x |
geographic |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Southern Ocean The Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Weddell |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Emperor penguins Sea ice Snow Petrels Southern Ocean Weddell Seals |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Fur Seals Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Emperor penguins Sea ice Snow Petrels Southern Ocean Weddell Seals |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/6338/1/GCB2008.pdf Forcada, Jaume orcid:0000-0002-2115-0150 Trathan, Philip N orcid:0000-0001-6673-9930 Murphy, Eugene J orcid:0000-0002-7369-9196 . 2008 Life history buffering in Antarctic mammals and birds against changing patterns of climate and environmental variation. Global Change Biology, 14 (11). 2473-2488. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x <https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01678.x |
container_title |
Global Change Biology |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
11 |
container_start_page |
2473 |
op_container_end_page |
2488 |
_version_ |
1766277078822420480 |