Emperor penguin at serious threat of extinction as a consequence of climate change

The emperor penguin is at extreme threat of extinction in the next 30 to 40 years on account of climate change, in response to analysis by the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA).

The emperor, the world's largest penguin and certainly one of solely two penguin species endemic to Antarctica, provides beginning in the course of the Antarctic winter and requires stable sea ice from April via to December to nest fledgling chicks.

If the ocean freezes later or melts prematurely, the emperor family can not complete its reproductive cycle.

"If the water reaches the new child penguins, which aren't able to swim and would not have waterproof plumage, they die of the cold and drown," said biologist Marcela Libertelli, who has studied 15,000 penguins across two colonies in Antarctica at the IAA.

This has happened on the Halley Bay colony in the Weddell Sea, the second-largest Emperor penguin colony, where for 3 years all the chicks died.

Every August, in the midst of the southern hemisphere winter, Dr Libertelli and other scientists at Argentina's Marambio Base in Antarctica travel 65 km each day by motorcycle in temperatures as little as -40 degrees Celsius to reach the nearest Emperor penguin colony.

Once there, they rely, weigh, and measure the chicks, gather geographical coordinates, and take blood samples. Additionally they conduct aerial analysis.

The scientists' findings point to a grim future for the species if local weather change isn't mitigated.

"[Climate] projections counsel that the colonies which can be positioned between latitudes 60 and 70 levels [south] will disappear within the next few many years; that's, within the subsequent 30, 40 years," Dr Libertelli said.

The emperor's unique features include the longest reproductive cycle amongst penguins.

After a chick is born, one mother or father continues carrying it between its legs for heat until it develops its ultimate plumage.

"The disappearance of any species is a tragedy for the planet. Whether or not small or giant, plant or animal — it does not matter. It's a loss for biodiversity," Dr Libertelli mentioned.

The emperor penguin's disappearance may have a dramatic influence throughout Antarctica, an extreme setting where food chains have fewer members and fewer links, Dr Libertelli mentioned.

In early April, the World Meteorological Group warned of "more and more extreme temperatures coupled with uncommon rainfall and ice melting in Antarctica" — a "worrying development", said Dr Libertelli, with Antarctic ice sheets depleting since not less than 1999.

The rise of tourism and fishing in Antarctica have also put the emperor's future at risk by affecting krill, one of the predominant sources of food for penguins and other species.

"Tourist boats typically have numerous negative effects on Antarctica, as do the fisheries," Dr Libertelli stated.

"It is vital that there's greater control and that we take into consideration the longer term."

Reuters