Over The Horizon

Penguins Like Global Warming

The Antarctic Adelie penguin population is doing well, apparently in response to favourable conditions linked to global warming, according to Landcare Research scientists.

Over the last 12 years, breeding pairs have increased by 400,000 to an estimated one million in the Ross Sea region. Team leader Dr Peter Wilson believes that more penguins are surviving because of more favourable conditions caused by climate change.

"The large increase in penguin numbers, due to decreasing adult mortality and increasing chick survival, is probably related to environmental warming and a reduction in the sea ice during breeding," he says.

Aerial surveys by Hercules aircraft have shown 12 previously unknown breeding sites. Working with US scientists, the Landcare team will set up electronic weighing stations at three colonies to measure the weight of birds leaving and returning to the colony and time spent at sea foraging. Wilson says the research has the potential to increase understanding of the biological consequences of climate change, with 15 years of data available by 1996.

"The database will be extremely valuable to future workers in climatology and marine biology."