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Unless warming is slowed, emperor penguins will be marching towards extinction:
Emperor penguins are some of the most striking and charismatic animals on Earth, but a new study from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has found that a warming climate may render them extinct by the end of this century. The study, which was part of an international collaboration between scientists, published Nov. 7, 2019, in the journal Global Change Biology.
"If global climate keeps warming at the current rate, we expect emperor penguins in Antarctica to experience an 86 percent decline by the year 2100," says Stephanie Jenouvrier, a seabird ecologist at WHOI and lead author on the paper. "At that point, it is very unlikely for them to bounce back."
The fate of the penguins is largely tied to the fate of sea ice, which the animals use as a home base for breeding, feeding and molting, she notes. Emperor penguins tend to build their colonies on ice with extremely specific conditions—it must be locked in to the shoreline of the Antarctic continent, but close enough to open seawater to give the birds access to food for themselves and their young. As climate warms, however, that sea ice will gradually disappear, robbing the birds of their habitat, food sources, and ability to raise their chicks.
[...] Under the 1.5 degree [Celsius maximum global temperature increase sought under the Paris Accord] scenario, the study found that only 5 percent of sea ice would be lost by 2100, causing a 19 percent drop in the number of penguin colonies. If the planet warms by 2 degrees, however, those numbers increase dramatically: the loss of sea ice nearly triples, and more than a third of existing colonies disappear. The 'business as usual' scenario is even more dire, Jenouvrier adds, with an almost complete loss of the colonies ensured.
"Under that scenario, the penguins will effectively be marching towards extinction over the next century," she says.
Journal Reference:
Stéphanie Jenouvrier, The Paris Agreement objectives will likely halt future declines of emperor penguins[$]. Global Change Biology, 2019; DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14864
(Score: 3, Funny) by FatPhil on Friday November 08 2019, @11:59AM (8 children)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @12:25PM
The problem is the people doing the research are always surprised when an animal shows cleverness superior to their own.
Eg, these people keep bidding up the price of coastal real estate instead of moving away from the sea they are supposedly worried about rising. If it does rise to the level of flooding I am sure they would just say still and drown unless someone saved them. They expect penguins to be just as stupid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @12:46PM (1 child)
What about God Emperor Penguins?
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Friday November 08 2019, @02:39PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 08 2019, @09:11PM (4 children)
It took them millions of years to adapt to those surroundings. Giving them 80 to evolve back into birds might be cutting it a bit short!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @09:54PM (1 child)
That isn't how evolution works. It is called punctuated equilibrium.
But these penguins will simply behaviorally adapt in one generation by moving away from where the researchers are bothering them.
You are wrong in EVERY. SINGLE. POST.
(Score: 3, Touché) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 08 2019, @10:15PM
Or, they'll be five hundred and first animal to be added to this list of post-industrial-revolution extinctions. [rd.com]
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Saturday November 09 2019, @12:19AM (1 child)
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09 2019, @02:52AM
Survivor bias - it means only the best posts get read. So long and thanks for all the fish.