Animals are naturally very sensitive and adapt themselves to the change in weather. At the same time, scientists are using their properties for research in Antarctica. For this, he has chosen a particular species.
It is said that animals and animals already feel the natural events happening in the world. Now scientists are trying to use these same qualities for research. Scientists researching climate change in the South Pole are now using penguins as indicators of climate change happening here.
Easy to track penguins
Penguins are recognized as the symbol of the ice-frozen South Pole in the earth. Research has shown that some western regions such as the Antarctic Peninsula are increasing rapidly. Whereas, East Antarctica is always cold and covered with snow. Nothing is easy in the remote and snowy areas of Antarctica. In such a situation, research can be helped here through penguin. Penguins are easier to track than other species, as they nest on the ground and their black plumage and waist can be easily seen in the white snow.
used as a bioindicator
Borowicz of Stony Brook University in New York said that we are counting penguin nests to understand how many penguins are there. How many chicks do they produce every year and is their number increasing or decreasing due to environmental conditions there. Stony Brook’s Withington said that we can use penguins as a bioindicator to understand the ecosystem there. Satellite images are being used to count individual penguins. These showed that some penguins are ‘winners’ who build new homes despite climate change. Whereas, some are forced to go to more cold areas.
rapidly changing weather in antarctic
The gentoo penguin has a bright orange beak and a distinctive white mark on its head. It likes icy open water. In the middle of the 20th century, temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula began to rise more rapidly than in other parts of the world, causing gentoo populations to move south, a process known as the “gentofification” of Antarctica. The lack of sea ice on the western side of the peninsula has enabled the gentoo to flourish. At the same time, these conditions made the Adeles penguins, which depend on sea ice for breeding and feeding, in worse condition.
Penguin population declines as snow decreases
Withington said that it is generally known about Adélie penguins that they live near sea ice. The Adélie penguin population has declined significantly whenever sea ice has been observed to recede. Overall, Adélie penguin populations are increasing, but some have declined by more than 65 percent. Scientists from Stony Brook University conducted an expedition to the region in January and found that Adélie’s colonies around the icy Weddell Sea still remained stable over the past decade. For them this peninsula is probably a safe place.
use of satellite photos
Heather Lynch, leader of the MV Arctic Sunrise expedition, believes these findings suggest the area needs to be kept in reserve. Using satellite images, a team from the British Antarctic Survey discovered 11 new emperor penguin colonies in 2020, showing a 20 percent increase in existing colonies. The Halley Bay colony in the easternmost part of the Weddell Sea is home to the second largest breeding colony of emperor penguins in the world, with some 25,000 pairs gathering each year to breed.
El Nino made a difference
Researchers believe that the 2016 El Nio event changed the sea ice terrain in the region. This puts penguin species at risk, as the effects of El Nio are exacerbated by climate change. Despite the death of the chicks not being directly related to climate change, Peter Fretwell, a geographic information scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, said climate change was the cause of the loss.
