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Penguins could be decimated by man-made global warming over the coming decades, according to a new study. USA TODAY
An Adelie penguin and a baby in Antarctica.(Photo: University of Delaware)
Penguins —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>easily the most known and beloved wild animal in Antarctica —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>could be decimated by man-made global warming over the coming decades, according to a new study.
Habitat loss caused from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>warmer water and loss of sea ice could bring<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a 60% decline in population of the Adélie penguin<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by 2099, said study lead author Megan Cimino.
For millions of years, <span style="color: Red;">*</span>Adélie penguins across Antarctica weathered natural climate change<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as glaciers expanded and melted. The penguins needed the warm periods as shrinking glaciers allowed them to return to their rocky breeding grounds.
But the study concludes that such<span style="color: Red;">*</span>helpful<span style="color: Red;">*</span>warming may have reached its tipping point. Longer warm periods may be shrinking the penguins' habitat, leading to the declining population.
“It is only in recent decades that we know Adélie penguins population declines are associated with warming, which suggests that many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and that further warming is no longer positive for the species,” Cimino said.
A<span style="color: Red;">*</span>2009 study reported that another<span style="color: Red;">*</span>penguin species — the emperor penguin —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>could face extinction by 2100 as Antarctic sea ice melts.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"Sea ice is essential to the emperor penguin life cycle, as the animals use it to breed, feed, and molt," the authors said in the 2009 study.
The new study, published<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in the journal
Scientific Reports on Wednesday, looked at various levels of warming expected over this century<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations' group that is<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the gold standard for climate forecasts.
The study used<span style="color: Red;">*</span>satellite observations from 1981-2010 of sea surface temperature, sea ice and bare rock locations, and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>penguin population estimates from satellite photos to predict the impact of warming trends on the penguins.
Overall, the researchers reported that climate change impacts on penguins in Antarctica will likely be highly site-specific, based on regional climate trends. Some parts of the continent, and thus some of the penguins,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>may not be as affected<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by climate change as others.
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