Emperor Penguins at Risk of Drastic Decline from Melting Sea Ice and Climate Change

Although a recent study found that Emperor penguins may be more adaptable to climate change than first expected, new research is showing that these birds are still in peril. Scientists have found that Emperor penguin populations across Antarctica are in danger of dramatic declines by the end of this century due to climate change.

The Emperor penguin is actually currently under consideration when it comes to inclusion under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Because these birds are heavily dependent on sea ice for their livelihoods, they're also sensitive to lower sea ice coverage due to climate change. As temperatures warm, these penguins could face some severe challenges. That's why scientists decided to take a closer look to find out whether Emperor penguins might actually be in peril.

For 50 years, researchers have intensively studied Emperor penguins in Terre Adelie in eastern Antarctica. Using previous population models from this work, the researchers projected how all of Antarctica's 45 known penguin colonies will respond to future climate change. They found that while some colony populations will increase for a while, the growth is short-lived.

"The role of sea ice is complicated," said Stephanie Jenouvrier, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Too much ice requires longer trips for penguin parents to travel to the ocean to hunt and bring back food for their chicks. But too little ice reduces the habitat for krill, a critical food source for Emperor penguins. Our models take into account both the effects of too much and too little sea ice in the colony area."

In fact, the researchers estimate that by the end of the century, at least two-thirds of the colonies in the study will have declined by more than half. Also, all of the colonies are projected to be declining by that time.

"Listing the Emperor penguin as an endangered species would reflect the scientific assessment of the threats facing an important part of the Antarctic ecosystem under climate change," said Hal Caswell, one of the researchers. "When a species is at risk due to one factor-in this case, climate change-it can be helped, sometimes greatly, by amelioration of other factors. That's why the Endangered Species Act is written to protect an endangered species in a number of ways-exploitation, habitat, disturbance, etc.-even if those factors are not the cause of its current predicament."

The findings are published in the journal Nature Climate Change.