MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Gentoo penguins proving to be the sturdiest in Antarctica
Chinstraps have been in steady decline while gentoos have undergone a series of population fluctuations…although their over trend is upwards A forty year study on a remote Antarctic island shows that while populations of two penguin species are declining, while a third is increasing. Analysis of census data from Signy Island in the South Orkney Islands reveals that, between 1978 and 2016, the number of chinstrap penguin pairs declined by nearly 70%.
Pairs of Adélie penguins dropped by more than 40% but the number of gentoo penguin pairs more than trebled.
Writing in the journal Plos One, scientists from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) say they have yet to understand the reasons behind the population changes but they mirror similar studies elsewhere.
Since the 1970s three Adélie colonies have disappeared completely. Chinstraps have been in steady decline while gentoos have undergone a series of population fluctuations…although their over trend is upwards.
Studies from different sites across the West Antarctic Peninsula and the Scotia Sea show similar evidence of a decline in Adélie and chinstrap populations. Similarly, gentoo populations have either remained constant or increased.
During the latter half of the Twentieth Century, Antarctic Peninsula temperatures increased by up to 0.5 C per decade though there has been a pausing in this upward trend in recent years. (Penguin News).
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Read all commentsMy favourites are the Adelie Penguins. Always busy busy busy with attitude, just like the people of the Falkland Islands. Watching groups by the waters edge its as though they are signalling “you first, you first” with the Leopard Seals waiting. Thank goodness we have a strong British prescence in the South Atlantic to protect the environment. If it were left to the Argies it would end up looking like Villa 31 or a Dunoon bus shelter. :-)))
Nov 01st, 2016 - 03:03 pm 0South Georgia was seriously damaged by Whaling, but the fur seals have recovered, the Reindeer have gone and the rats have been eliminated. Together with the marine sanctuary, a great demonstration of what recent enlightened British stewardship can achieve.
“Recent enlightened British...”
Nov 02nd, 2016 - 03:43 pm 0That out-of-the-way statement more than proves what the default British normally is.
(long-term, benighed British abuse has done...)
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