A complete breeding failure in an Adélie penguin colony correlates with unusual and extreme environmental events

• Published in: Ecography
• Main Authors: Ropert‐coudert, Yan, Kato, Akiko, Meyer, Xavier, Pellé, Marie, Macintosh, Andrew J. J., Angelier, Frédéric, Chastel, Olivier, Widmann, Michel, Arthur, Ben, Raymond, Ben, Raclot, Thierry
• Other Authors: Département Ecologie, Physiologie et Ethologie (DEPE-IPHC), Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien (IPHC), Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Strasbourg (UNISTRA)-Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules du CNRS (IN2P3)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Kyoto University, Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé - UMR 7372 (CEBC), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-La Rochelle Université (ULR)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies Hobart (IMAS), University of Tasmania Hobart, Australia (UTAS), Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), Australian Government, Department of the Environment and Energy, IPEV (prog.1091), WWF, Zone Atelier Antarctique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: sentinel species; climate change; extreme event; [SDE]Environmental Sciences; Terre Adélie; Terre-Adélie; Sea ice
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01076509; https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.01182

International audience Among the outcomes of the drastic changes affecting the Earth’secosystems, nothing is more telling than a complete failure in thereproductive success of a sentinel species: a “zero” year. Here, we foundthat unusual environmental conditions in the Terre Adélie sector ofAntarctica disrupted the breeding activity of Adélie penguins Pygoscelisadeliae on land – but also their foraging activity at sea – to such a degreethat no chicks survived in the 2013/14 breeding season. Uncommonlyheavy precipitation for this normally dry desert killed chicks en masse,while weak katabatic winds maintained a persistent sea ice around thecolony, thereby impacting chick provisioning by adults. Extreme eventssuch as this have direct repercussions for the species in question, and mayalso affect the wider sea-ice dependent food web. Understanding thenature, frequency, and consequences of such events are central to themanagement and conservation of this remote yet crucial ecosystem.