Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:57:14.133Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adélie penguin population changes at Stranger Point: 19 years of monitoring

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 May 2015

Mariana A. Juáres ,
Mercedes Santos ,
Javier Negrete ,
Jorge A. Mennucci ,
Pablo J. Perchivale ,
Ricardo Casaux  and
Néstor R. Coria
Mariana A. Juáres*
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mercedes Santos
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Javier Negrete
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jorge A. Mennucci
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Pablo J. Perchivale
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Ricardo Casaux
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Av Rivadavia 1917, C1033AAJ, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Néstor R. Coria
Affiliation:
Departamento Biología de Predadores Tope, Instituto Antártico Argentino, Balcarce 290, C1064AAF, Buenos Aires, Argentina
*
marianajuares@hotmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) breeding population at Stranger Point, King George Island (25 de Mayo), increased in number from 1965/66 until 1980/81 after which it started to decrease almost continuously up to the present. A significant decrease in the number of breeding pairs and chicks crèched was observed between 1995/96 and 2013/14 (75% and 78%, respectively), although the rate of this decrease has slowed since 2006/07. Over the last seven years, larger interannual fluctuations were recorded in the number of breeding pairs and chicks in crèches, as well in the breeding success. The values for the index of breeding success during 2007/08, 2009/10 and 2012/13 were low and this parameter showed higher temporal fluctuation in the period 2007/08 to 2013/14. The reduction in breeding success and the number of chicks reared to crèche will unfavourably impact on future population size at Stranger Point through the reduction of new recruits. Although Adélie penguin population trends on the Antarctic Peninsula are linked to the marine environment variability (i.e. reduction in sea ice affecting the availability of prey), breeding success is also influenced by the amount of snow fall which has increased in recent years.

Keywords

Antarcticapopulation declinePygoscelis adeliaeSouth Shetland Islandsterrestrial environmental variability
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 27 , Issue 5 , October 2015 , pp. 455 - 461
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aguirre, C.A. 1995. Distribution and abundance of birds at Potter Peninsula, 25 de Mayo (King George) Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctic. Marine Ornithology, 23, 23–31.Google Scholar
Ainley, D.G., LeResche, R.E. & Sladen, W.J.L. 1983. Breeding biology of the Adélie penguin. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 240 pp.Google Scholar
Ainley, D.G. 2002. The Adélie penguin: bellwether of climate change. Columbia, NY: Columbia University Press, 416 pp.Google Scholar
Atkinson, A., Siegel, V., Pakhomov, E. & Rothery, P. 2004. Long-term decline in krill stock and increase in salps within the Southern Ocean. Nature, 432, 100–103.Google Scholar
Carlini, A.R., Coria, R.N., Santos, M.M., Libertelli, M.M. & Donini, G. 2007. Breeding success and population trends in Adélie penguins in areas with low and high levels of human disturbance. Polar Biology, 30, 917–924.Google Scholar
Carlini, A.R., Coria, N.R., Santos, M.M, Negrete, J., Juáres, M.A. & Daneri, G.A. 2009. Responses of Pygoscelis adeliae and P. papua populations to environmental changes at Isla 25 de Mayo (King George Island). Polar Biology, 32, 1427–1433.Google Scholar
CCAMLR. 2004. CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program. Standard methods for monitoring parameters of predator species. Hobart, TAS: Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, 286 pp.Google Scholar
Croxall, J. & Kirkwood, E. 1979. The distribution of penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula and Islands of the Scotia Sea. Cambridge: British Antarctic Survey, 186 pp.Google Scholar
Forcada, J., Trathan, P.N., Reid, K., Murphy, E.J. & Croxall, J.P. 2006. Contrasting population changes in sympatric penguin species in association with climate warming. Global Change Biology, 12, 411–423.Google Scholar
Fraser, W.R., Patterson-Fraser, D.L., Ribic, C.A., Schofield, O. & Ducklow, H. 2013. A nonmarine source of variability in Adélie penguin demography. Oceanography, 26, 207–209.Google Scholar
Hinke, J.T., Salwicka, K., Trivelpiece, S.G., Watters, G.M. & Trivelpiece, W.Z. 2007. Divergent responses in Pygoscelis penguins reveal a common environmental driver. Oecologia, 153, 845–855.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hinke, J.T., Polito, M.J., Reiss, C.S., Trivelpiece, S.G. & Trivelpiece, W.Z. 2012. Flexible reproductive timing can buffer reproductive success of Pygoscelis spp. penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula region. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 454, 91–104.Google Scholar
Jablonski, B. 1984. Distribution and numbers of penguins in the region of Admiralty Bay (King George Island, South Shetland Islands) in the breeding season 1980/1981. Polish Polar Research, 5, 17–30.Google Scholar
Juáres, M.A. 2013. Biología reproductiva y ecología trófica de dos especies simpátricas del género Pygoscelis en las Islas Shetland del Sur, Antártida. PhD thesis. Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, hdl.handle.net/10915/27166, 163 pp. [Unpublished].Google Scholar
Juáres, M.A., Santos, M.M., Negrete, J., Santos, M.R., Mennucci, J.A., Rombolá, E., Longarzo, L., Coria, N.R. & Carlini, A.R. 2013. Better late than never? Interannual and seasonal variability in breeding chronology of gentoo penguins at Stranger Point, Antarctica. Polar Research, 32, 10.3402/polar.v32i0.18448.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korczak-Abshire, M., Wegrzyn, M., Angiel, P.J. & Lisowska, M. 2013. Pygoscelid penguins breeding distribution and population trends at Lions Rump rookery, King George Island. Polish Polar Research, 34, 87–99.Google Scholar
Loeb, V.J., Hofmann, E.E., Klinck, J.M., Holm-Hansen, O. & White, W.B. 2009. ENSO and variability of the Antarctic Peninsula pelagic marine ecosystem. Antarctic Science, 21, 135–148.Google Scholar
Lynch, H.J., Fagan, W.F. & Naveen, R. 2010. Population trends and reproductive success at a frequently visited penguin colony on the western Antarctic Peninsula. Polar Biology, 33, 493–503.Google Scholar
Lynch, H.J., Naveen, R. & Fagan, W.F. 2008. Censuses of penguin, blue-eyed shag Phalacrocorax atriceps and southern giant petrel Macronectes giganteus populations on the Antarctic Peninsula, 2001–2007. Marine Ornithology, 36, 83–97.Google Scholar
Lynch, H.J., Fagan, W.F., Naveen, R., Trivelpiece, S.G. & Trivelpiece, W.Z. 2009. Timing of clutch initiation in Pygoscelis penguins on the Antarctic Peninsula: towards an improved understanding of off-peak census correction factors. CCAMLR Science, 16, 149–165.Google Scholar
Moline, M.A., Claustre, H., Frazer, T.K., Schofield, O. & Vernet, M. 2004. Alteration of the food web along the Antarctic Peninsula in response to a regional warming trend. Global Change Biology, 10, 1973–1980.Google Scholar
Müller-Schwarze, C. & Müller-Schwarze, D. 1975. A survey of twenty-four rookeries of pygoscelid penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula region. In Stonehouse, B., ed. The biology of penguins. London: Macmillan Press, 309–320.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegel, V., Reiss, C.S., Dietrich, K.S., Haraldsson, M. & Rohardt, G. 2013. Distribution and abundance of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) along the Antarctic Peninsula. Deep-Sea Research I - Oceanographic Research Papers, 77, 63–74.Google Scholar
Stammerjohn, S.E., Martinson, D.G., Smith, R.C. & Iannuzzi, R.A. 2008. Sea ice in the western Antarctic Peninsula region: spatio-temporal variability from ecological and climate change perspective. Deep-Sea Research II - Topical Studies in Oceanography, 55, 2041–2058.Google Scholar
Thomas, E.R., Marshall, G.J. & McConnell, J.R. 2008. A doubling in snow accumulation in the western Antarctic Peninsula since 1850. Geophysical Research Letters, 35, 10.1029/2007GL032529.Google Scholar
Trathan, P.N., Croxall, J.P. & Murphy, E.J. 1996. Dynamics of Antarctic penguin populations in relation to interannual variability in sea ice distribution. Polar Biology, 16, 321–330.Google Scholar
Trivelpiece, W.Z. & Fraser, W.R. 1996. The breeding biology and distribution of Adélie penguins: adaptations to environmental variability. Antarctic Research Series, 70, 273–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trivelpiece, W.Z., Hinke, J.T., Miller, A.K., Reiss, C.S., Trivelpiece, S.G. & Watters, G.M. 2011. Variability in krill biomass links harvesting and climate warming to penguin population changes in Antarctica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 108, 7625–7628.Google Scholar
Turner, J., Lachlan-Cope, T., Colwell, S. & Marshall, G.J. 2005. A positive trend in western Antarctic Peninsula precipitation over the last 50 years reflecting regional and Antarctic-wide atmospheric circulation changes. Annals of Glaciology, 41, 85–91.Google Scholar
Volkman, N.J., Presler, P. & Trivelpiece, W. 1980. Diets of Pygoscelid penguins at King George Island, Antarctica. Condor, 82, 373–378.Google Scholar
Young, E.C. 1994. Skua and penguin, predator and prey. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 472 pp.Google Scholar