My mom is obsessed with penguins (something about a childhood obsession with a Monty Python exploding penguins skit). So, in her honor, I had to report the latest findings from the World Wildlife Fund. They report that even a 2 degree increase in global temperatures – which is possible in the next 40 years or so – would devastate antarctic penguin populations.
The penguins under threat are the Emperor and Adélie penguins, which are “sea ice obligates”, meaning that they are largely confined to waters that are covered for a significant part of the year by sea ice, particularly the broken up floes called ‘pack ice.’ Increasing temperatures threaten to reduce sea ice cover, essentially eliminating the habitat for 50% of the Emperor colonies and 75% of the Adélie colonies.
While some might colonize areas which where the sea ice is currently ‘too densely packed,’ the losses in penguin populations will be dramatic, especially for the Adélie penguins. A reduction in sea ice will alsp likely have a devastating effect on the abundance of krill, a vital food source for the penguins.
Juan Casavelos, WWF Antarctica Climate Change Coordinator explained that “penguins are very well adapted to living in the cold and extreme conditions of Antarctica, so the continued increase in global temperature and resulting loss of feeding areas and nesting zones for their chicks has already led to notable reductions in their populations… If temperatures increase by another two degrees these icons of the Antarctic will be seriously threatened.”
The World Wildlife Fund is one of many organizations supporting a global deal that will succeed the Kyoto Protocol, calling for an obligation on developed countries to cut 25-40% of their emissions by 2020 and 80-90% by 2050. The World Wildlife fund also aims to establish marine protected areas to reduce the pressure on threatened species.
If we can’t cut our emissions and slow down climate change in the near future, the estimates for penguin populations looks bleak. Like other species with very specific habitat requirements, large-scale changes in their ecosystem are devastating, and may be too much to overcome. Like polar bears in the arctic, these penguins are quickly becoming iconic of the losses our world will suffer due to climate change.
