Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change
The Southern Ocean is in an era of significant change. Historic overharvesting of marine mammals and recent climatic warming have cascading impacts on resource availability and, in turn, ecosystem structure and function. We examined trophic responses of sympatric chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) an...
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ftuloxford:oai:ora.ox.ac.uk:uuid:49176ff8-82c5-463a-be40-089d7ff0452b 2023-05-15T13:47:20+02:00 Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change McMahon, K Mickelson, C Hart, T McCarthy, M Patterson, W Polito, M 2019-11-27 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913093116 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:49176ff8-82c5-463a-be40-089d7ff0452b eng eng National Academy of Sciences doi:10.1073/pnas.1913093116 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:49176ff8-82c5-463a-be40-089d7ff0452b https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913093116 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Journal article 2019 ftuloxford https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913093116 2022-06-28T20:11:26Z The Southern Ocean is in an era of significant change. Historic overharvesting of marine mammals and recent climatic warming have cascading impacts on resource availability and, in turn, ecosystem structure and function. We examined trophic responses of sympatric chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins to nearly 100 y of shared environmental change in the Antarctic Peninsula region using compound-specific stable isotope analyses of museum specimens. A century ago, gentoo penguins fed almost exclusively on low-trophic level prey, such as krill, during the peak of historic overexploitation of marine mammals, which was hypothesized to have resulted in a krill surplus. In the last 40 y, gentoo penguin trophic position has increased a full level as krill declined in response to recent climate change, increased competition from recovering marine mammal populations, and the development of a commercial krill fishery. A shifting isotopic baseline supporting gentoo penguins suggests a concurrent increase in coastal productivity over this time. In contrast, chinstrap penguins exhibited no change in trophic position, despite variation in krill availability over the past century. The specialized foraging niche of chinstrap penguins likely renders them more sensitive to changes in krill availability, relative to gentoo penguins, as evinced by their declining population trends in the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 40 y. Over the next century, similarly divergent trophic and population responses are likely to occur among Antarctic krill predators if climate change and other anthropogenic impacts continue to favor generalist over specialist species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Gentoo penguin Pygoscelis antarctica Pygoscelis papua Southern Ocean ORA - Oxford University Research Archive Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Southern Ocean The Antarctic Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 116 51 25721 25727 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ORA - Oxford University Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftuloxford |
language |
English |
description |
The Southern Ocean is in an era of significant change. Historic overharvesting of marine mammals and recent climatic warming have cascading impacts on resource availability and, in turn, ecosystem structure and function. We examined trophic responses of sympatric chinstrap (Pygoscelis antarctica) and gentoo (Pygoscelis papua) penguins to nearly 100 y of shared environmental change in the Antarctic Peninsula region using compound-specific stable isotope analyses of museum specimens. A century ago, gentoo penguins fed almost exclusively on low-trophic level prey, such as krill, during the peak of historic overexploitation of marine mammals, which was hypothesized to have resulted in a krill surplus. In the last 40 y, gentoo penguin trophic position has increased a full level as krill declined in response to recent climate change, increased competition from recovering marine mammal populations, and the development of a commercial krill fishery. A shifting isotopic baseline supporting gentoo penguins suggests a concurrent increase in coastal productivity over this time. In contrast, chinstrap penguins exhibited no change in trophic position, despite variation in krill availability over the past century. The specialized foraging niche of chinstrap penguins likely renders them more sensitive to changes in krill availability, relative to gentoo penguins, as evinced by their declining population trends in the Antarctic Peninsula over the past 40 y. Over the next century, similarly divergent trophic and population responses are likely to occur among Antarctic krill predators if climate change and other anthropogenic impacts continue to favor generalist over specialist species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
McMahon, K Mickelson, C Hart, T McCarthy, M Patterson, W Polito, M |
spellingShingle |
McMahon, K Mickelson, C Hart, T McCarthy, M Patterson, W Polito, M Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
author_facet |
McMahon, K Mickelson, C Hart, T McCarthy, M Patterson, W Polito, M |
author_sort |
McMahon, K |
title |
Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
title_short |
Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
title_full |
Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
title_fullStr |
Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
title_full_unstemmed |
Divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
title_sort |
divergent trophic responses of sympatric penguin species to historic anthropogenic exploitation and recent climate change |
publisher |
National Academy of Sciences |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913093116 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:49176ff8-82c5-463a-be40-089d7ff0452b |
geographic |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Antarctic Peninsula Southern Ocean The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Gentoo penguin Pygoscelis antarctica Pygoscelis papua Southern Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic Krill Antarctic Peninsula Antarctica Gentoo penguin Pygoscelis antarctica Pygoscelis papua Southern Ocean |
op_relation |
doi:10.1073/pnas.1913093116 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:49176ff8-82c5-463a-be40-089d7ff0452b https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913093116 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1913093116 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |
container_volume |
116 |
container_issue |
51 |
container_start_page |
25721 |
op_container_end_page |
25727 |
_version_ |
1766246941399711744 |