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, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @10:19AM (1 child)
All the other studies were saying we have record numbers of all kinds of penguins and polar bears. The numbers are so large that the rest of the man made global warming doomist industry, such as the UN-IPCC AR5 report, gave up reporting on their extinction.
Also independent analysis of the Paris Agreement shows it doesnt affect the temperature of the planet at all, so you cant even get 2 lines into this study without asking the obvious "has this really been Peer Reviewed?" or did they Peer review it themselves?
(Score: 3, Interesting) by PiMuNu on Friday November 08 2019, @10:53AM
New scientist and scientific american are generally on the side of the climate change believers.
Polar bears (new scientist):
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11656-climate-myths-polar-bear-numbers-are-increasing/ [newscientist.com]
Penguins (scientific american):
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/penguin-populations-are-changing-dramatically/ [scientificamerican.com]
So while there is some truth in parent's comment, these sources indicate it isn't quite clear cut.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @10:38AM (7 children)
Keep it up with your idiotic extrapolations that ignore cycles... If you want to destroy all public faith in "experts".
(Score: 4, Informative) by maxwell demon on Friday November 08 2019, @11:35AM (4 children)
https://skepticalscience.com/solar-cycles-global-warming.htm [skepticalscience.com]
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @12:21PM (3 children)
They don't look at enough cycles to see the effect. The sun was more active than average for cycles 17-23 (~1933-2009), and less active than average for cycles 12-16 (~1880-1933): https://i.ibb.co/vvdRhnt/sunspots.png [i.ibb.co]
The drop in activity began last cycle (# 24) and the next one (#25) is expected to be half as active as that: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/ames/solar-activity-forecast-for-next-decade-favorable-for-exploration [nasa.gov]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @01:37PM (2 children)
You are a fool fool head. Come to the beach with me . Please.
It is not 5 2019 and we are in trouble idiot. No chance of spots for decades idiot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @08:33PM (1 child)
The above was a test. Someone marked the informative post troll and left the troll post alone. No doubt they are an avid democrat.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 09 2019, @02:49AM
I assume he's using the Mayan calendar. Cycle ended in 2012, game's over.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Friday November 08 2019, @07:48PM (1 child)
I've noticed a cycle: Every eleven years you claim the upcoming solar minimum is going to disprove global warming.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @08:30PM
Nope. That is your own strawman you made up to not deal with reality. It has always been coming 2020-2050, from the last cycle and predictions for the next it looks like sooner rather than later.
(Score: 2) by jmichaelhudsondotnet on Friday November 08 2019, @11:49AM (1 child)
'Unless stupidity is slowed, homosapiens will be capitalizing upon their extinction.'
thesesystemsarefailing.net
(Score: 3, Funny) by Freeman on Friday November 08 2019, @05:49PM
"Hold my beer!" -The Internet
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(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.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @01:41PM
Then they moved them to Israel where they're thriving. So why not relocate the penguins to somewhere they'll enjoy like Minnesota or Pittsburgh?
(Score: 2) by exaeta on Friday November 08 2019, @02:59PM
The Government is a Bird
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday November 08 2019, @02:59PM
penguins have it way way better than the poor walrus
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7_N_xF7IUdA [youtube.com]
(Score: 3, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday November 08 2019, @11:08PM
They'll be waddling towards extinction not marching.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday November 09 2019, @12:13AM
We're into Democratic Penguins now.
Washington DC delenda est.