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150,000 penguins died? (1 Viewer)

I have two questions: Is this a case of climate change and how do penguins find food when they cut off of their feeding grounds?
 
As I said in the other post on this topic.

So this happened in 2010, the 150,000 penguins have been displaced, might well have gone elsewhere, and no evidence they were in fact killed.

As I read this to your question they were cut off from their breeding ground, not from their food source. It depends when the iceberg arrived.....

Expect better of the Independent if not of journalists in general, sorry.
 
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I deliberately posed this thread as a question as the article came across as inconclusive and uncertain. It's a poorly written article, but I think the gist is:

  • the colony was once 160,000 members strong
  • there are now 10,000 birds in the colony
  • they predict that these remaining birds will disappear
  • all because an iceberg has lodged near the colony and has resulted in a 70 mile trek to find food
 
I deliberately posed this thread as a question as the article came across as inconclusive and uncertain. It's a poorly written article, but I think the gist is:

  • the colony was once 160,000 members strong
  • there are now 10,000 birds in the colony
  • they predict that these remaining birds will disappear
  • all because an iceberg has lodged near the colony and has resulted in a 70 mile trek to find food (Correction: a 70mile trek from the sea (where they are) to their old breeding colony)

Agree, but the key question to my mind is where the birds will 'disappear' to?
It is possible I suppose that some will just give up and die, but I doubt this will be many of them - they will more likely do what most birds do in these circumstances - try to find somewhere else that will work for them. If there really is nowhere else (possible I suppose, I'm not knowledgeable enough) then I suppose they might all perish, but this is far from proven by this article!

Mick
 
Update

http://www.natureworldnews.com/arti...vived-iceberg-grounding-antarctica-update.htm

And here is the study


The impact of the giant iceberg B09B on population size and breeding success of Adélie penguins in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica

KERRY-JAYNE WILSON
1
, CHRIS S.M. TURNEY
2
, CHRISTOPHER J. FOGWILL
2
and ESTELLE BLAIR
3
1
West Coast Penguin Trust, PO Box 70, Charleston 7865, West Coast, New Zealand
2
Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales,
Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
3
29 Neurum Road, Yaroomba, QLD 4573, Australia
[email protected]

Abstract: The arrival of iceberg B09B in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica, and subsequent fast ice expansion has dramatically increased the distance Adélie penguins ( Pygoscelis adeliae ) breeding at Cape Denison must travel in search of food. This has provided a natural experiment to investigate the impact of iceberg stranding events and sea ice expansion along the East Antarctic coast. As part of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013 – 14, the Adélie penguin colony at Cape Denison was censused to compare to historic counts. Whilst some 5520 pairs still bred at Cape Denison there has been an order of magnitude decline in Adélie numbers in the area in comparison to the fi rst counts a century ago and, critically, recent estimates based on satellite images and a census in 1997. In contrast, an Adélie population on the eastern fringe of Commonwealth Bay just 8 km from the fast ice edge was thriving, indicating the arrival of B09B and fast ice expansion was probably responsible for the observed recent population decline. In conclusion, the Cape Denison population could be extirpated within 20 years unless B09B relocates or the now perennial fast ice within the bay breaks out. Our results have important implications for wider East Antarctic if the current increasing sea ice trend continues. Received 29 July 2015, accepted 9 November 2015 Key words: Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013/4, iceberg stranding events

http://journals.cambridge.org/actio...1606&fulltextType=RA&fileId=S0954102015000644
 
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