First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies
In 1948, a small colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri was discovered breeding on Emperor Island (67° 51′ 52″ S, 68° 42′ 20″ W), in the Dion Islands, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula (Stonehouse 1952). When discovered, the colony comprised approximately 150 breeding pairs; these numbe...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:3046112 2023-05-15T13:35:52+02:00 First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies Trathan, Philip N. Fretwell, Peter T. Stonehouse, Bernard 2011-02-28 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046112 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21386883 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014738 en eng Public Library of Science http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046112 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21386883 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014738 Trathan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. CC-BY Research Article Text 2011 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014738 2013-09-03T11:31:50Z In 1948, a small colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri was discovered breeding on Emperor Island (67° 51′ 52″ S, 68° 42′ 20″ W), in the Dion Islands, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula (Stonehouse 1952). When discovered, the colony comprised approximately 150 breeding pairs; these numbers were maintained until 1970, after which time the colony showed a continuous decline. By 1999 there were fewer than 20 pairs, and in 2009 high-resolution aerial photography revealed no remaining trace of the colony. Here we relate the decline and loss of the Emperor Island colony to a well-documented rise in local mean annual air temperature and coincident decline in seasonal sea ice duration. The loss of this colony provides empirical support for recent studies (Barbraud & Weimerskirch 2001; Jenouvrier et al 2005, 2009; Ainley et al 2010; Barber-Meyer et al 2005) that have highlighted the vulnerability of emperor penguins to changes in sea ice duration and distribution. These studies suggest that continued climate change is likely to impact upon future breeding success and colony viability for this species. Furthermore, a recent circumpolar study by Fretwell & Trathan (2009) highlighted those Antarctic coastal regions where colonies appear most vulnerable to such changes. Here we examine which other colonies might be at risk, discussing various ecological factors, some previously unexplored, that may also contribute to future declines. The implications of this are important for future modelling work and for understanding which colonies actually are most vulnerable. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Aptenodytes forsteri Dion Islands Emperor Island Emperor penguins Sea ice PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Dion ENVELOPE(-68.702,-68.702,-67.875,-67.875) Dion Islands ENVELOPE(-68.717,-68.717,-67.867,-67.867) Emperor Island ENVELOPE(-68.710,-68.710,-67.865,-67.865) Stonehouse ENVELOPE(-68.083,-68.083,-67.350,-67.350) PLoS ONE 6 2 e14738 |
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Research Article Trathan, Philip N. Fretwell, Peter T. Stonehouse, Bernard First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies |
topic_facet |
Research Article |
description |
In 1948, a small colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri was discovered breeding on Emperor Island (67° 51′ 52″ S, 68° 42′ 20″ W), in the Dion Islands, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula (Stonehouse 1952). When discovered, the colony comprised approximately 150 breeding pairs; these numbers were maintained until 1970, after which time the colony showed a continuous decline. By 1999 there were fewer than 20 pairs, and in 2009 high-resolution aerial photography revealed no remaining trace of the colony. Here we relate the decline and loss of the Emperor Island colony to a well-documented rise in local mean annual air temperature and coincident decline in seasonal sea ice duration. The loss of this colony provides empirical support for recent studies (Barbraud & Weimerskirch 2001; Jenouvrier et al 2005, 2009; Ainley et al 2010; Barber-Meyer et al 2005) that have highlighted the vulnerability of emperor penguins to changes in sea ice duration and distribution. These studies suggest that continued climate change is likely to impact upon future breeding success and colony viability for this species. Furthermore, a recent circumpolar study by Fretwell & Trathan (2009) highlighted those Antarctic coastal regions where colonies appear most vulnerable to such changes. Here we examine which other colonies might be at risk, discussing various ecological factors, some previously unexplored, that may also contribute to future declines. The implications of this are important for future modelling work and for understanding which colonies actually are most vulnerable. |
format |
Text |
author |
Trathan, Philip N. Fretwell, Peter T. Stonehouse, Bernard |
author_facet |
Trathan, Philip N. Fretwell, Peter T. Stonehouse, Bernard |
author_sort |
Trathan, Philip N. |
title |
First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies |
title_short |
First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies |
title_full |
First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies |
title_fullStr |
First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies |
title_full_unstemmed |
First Recorded Loss of an Emperor Penguin Colony in the Recent Period of Antarctic Regional Warming: Implications for Other Colonies |
title_sort |
first recorded loss of an emperor penguin colony in the recent period of antarctic regional warming: implications for other colonies |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046112 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21386883 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014738 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-68.702,-68.702,-67.875,-67.875) ENVELOPE(-68.717,-68.717,-67.867,-67.867) ENVELOPE(-68.710,-68.710,-67.865,-67.865) ENVELOPE(-68.083,-68.083,-67.350,-67.350) |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Dion Dion Islands Emperor Island Stonehouse |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Dion Dion Islands Emperor Island Stonehouse |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Aptenodytes forsteri Dion Islands Emperor Island Emperor penguins Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Aptenodytes forsteri Dion Islands Emperor Island Emperor penguins Sea ice |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3046112 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21386883 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014738 |
op_rights |
Trathan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014738 |
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PLoS ONE |
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6 |
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2 |
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e14738 |
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1766071428657971200 |