scholarly journals Climate change effects on emperor penguins

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 57-60
Author(s):  
Casilda Saavedra ◽  
Taibah Alhatem

Climate change is one of the major issues affecting our mother Earth. The change in climate include both the change intemperature and the change in precipitation. Both of these parameters are very crucial to animals and plants where they depend onthem for their survival. Climate change has so many negative impacts on the biodiversity of the Earth especially in the Arctic andAntarctic continents. The rise in temperature decreases the ice coverage which in return reduces the population of the wildlife. Theice coverage is crucial to the biodiversity living in Antarctica where they depend on it for their survival. It’s very important for theirfeeding, breeding, and habitat. However, with the reduction of ice, many animals are becoming close to extinction. One of thosespecies that were negatively impacted by climate change is emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri). These penguins require verylow temperatures in order to breed and populate. Very high temperatures for these penguins could result in decreased population ratearound Antarctica. An analysis was done of emperor penguin population data found in different research papers in conjunction withtemperature anomalies data in Antarctica from 1983 to 2005 from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).The results indicated that there was an inverse relationship between the temperature and the penguin’s population. It was shownthrough the analysis conducted that the temperature impacted the penguins negatively throughout the years since the temperaturewas rising. It decreased their breeding population and chicks count dramatically in all the parts of Antarctica tested.

2014 ◽  
Vol 72 (3) ◽  
pp. 741-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda C. Jones ◽  
William W. L. Cheung

Abstract Species distribution models (SDMs) are important tools to explore the effects of future global changes in biodiversity. Previous studies show that variability is introduced into projected distributions through alternative datasets and modelling procedures. However, a multi-model approach to assess biogeographic shifts at the global scale is still rarely applied, particularly in the marine environment. Here, we apply three commonly used SDMs (AquaMaps, Maxent, and the Dynamic Bioclimate Envelope Model) to assess the global patterns of change in species richness, invasion, and extinction intensity in the world oceans. We make species-specific projections of distribution shift using each SDM, subsequently aggregating them to calculate indices of change across a set of 802 species of exploited marine fish and invertebrates. Results indicate an average poleward latitudinal shift across species and SDMs at a rate of 15.5 and 25.6 km decade−1 for a low and high emissions climate change scenario, respectively. Predicted distribution shifts resulted in hotspots of local invasion intensity in high latitude regions, while local extinctions were concentrated near the equator. Specifically, between 10°N and 10°S, we predicted that, on average, 6.5 species would become locally extinct per 0.5° latitude under the climate change emissions scenario Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5. Average invasions were predicted to be 2.0 species per 0.5° latitude in the Arctic Ocean and 1.5 species per 0.5° latitude in the Southern Ocean. These averaged global hotspots of invasion and local extinction intensity are robust to the different SDM used and coincide with high levels of agreement.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Mohanty

The current study reveals that the western Himalayas has a fragile ecosystem, highly susceptible to rapid changes in land morphology due to the consequences of climate change. Land-use and climatic change in this region has negative impacts on agriculture and human health. Increasing temperature, erratic precipitation, and rising CO2 concentrations are the main drivers which show adverse effects on agriculture and human health. The impacts trends in this region can be categorised into exacerbated pathogenicity are pathogens, and hence disease outbreaks, changes in the traditional agriculture techniques, and people’s migration that directly changes in ecological and leading to social inequalities. In the last few decades, there have been changes in vector species distribution in agriculture and increases of forest pest species attacks by climate change in agriculture and forest pest increases, and parasites are emerging during periods of these last few decades. Enhancement of seasonal transmission and distribution of pests pushes food insecurity and vector-borne infections deteriorate human health. This review article tries to analyse different literature on the effects of climate change on agriculture and human health in the Western Himalayas and suggest agroforestry and agroecology is some of the strategies to overcome climate change impact.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 10271-10311 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Corbett ◽  
D. A. Lack ◽  
J. J. Winebrake ◽  
S. Harder ◽  
J. A. Silberman ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Arctic is a sensitive region in terms of climate change and a rich natural resource for global economic activity. Arctic shipping is an important contributor to the region's anthropogenic air emissions, including black carbon – a short-lived climate forcing pollutant especially effective in accelerating the melting of ice and snow. These emissions are projected to increase as declining sea ice coverage due to climate change allows for increased shipping activity in the Arctic. To understand the impacts of these increased emissions, scientists and modelers require high-resolution, geospatial emissions inventories that can be used for regional assessment modeling. This paper presents 5 km×5 km Arctic emissions inventories of important greenhouse gases, black carbon and other pollutants under existing and future (2050) scenarios that account for growth of shipping in the region, potential diversion traffic through emerging routes, and possible emissions control measures. Short-lived forcing of ~4.5 gigagrams of black carbon from Arctic shipping may increase climate forcing; a first-order calculation of global warming potential due to 2030 emissions in the high-growth scenario suggests that short-lived forcing of ~4.5 gigagrams of black carbon from Arctic shipping may increase climate forcing due to Arctic ships by at least 17% compared to warming from these vessels' CO2 emissions (~42 000 gigagrams). The paper also presents maximum feasible reduction scenarios for black carbon in particular. These emissions reduction scenarios will enable scientists and policymakers to evaluate the efficacy and benefits of technological controls for black carbon, and other pollutants from ships.


Author(s):  
Stephanie A. Henson

Sustained observations (SOs) have provided invaluable information on the ocean's biology and biogeochemistry for over 50 years. They continue to play a vital role in elucidating the functioning of the marine ecosystem, particularly in the light of ongoing climate change. Repeated, consistent observations have provided the opportunity to resolve temporal and/or spatial variability in ocean biogeochemistry, which has driven exploration of the factors controlling biological parameters and processes. Here, I highlight some of the key breakthroughs in biological oceanography that have been enabled by SOs, which include areas such as trophic dynamics, understanding variability, improved biogeochemical models and the role of ocean biology in the global carbon cycle. In the near future, SOs are poised to make progress on several fronts, including detecting climate change effects on ocean biogeochemistry, high-resolution observations of physical–biological interactions and greater observational capability in both the mesopelagic zone and harsh environments, such as the Arctic. We are now entering a new era for biological SOs, one in which our motivations have evolved from the need to acquire basic understanding of the ocean's state and variability, to a need to understand ocean biogeochemistry in the context of increasing pressure in the form of climate change, overfishing and eutrophication.


Polar Record ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Wienecke ◽  
Peter Pedersen

ABSTRACTIn 2008, the emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colony at Amanda Bay, East Antarctica, was designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area by the 31st Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is only the third emperor penguin colony in the Australian Antarctic Territory to receive this status. The colony has been known to exist since 1956 and numerous visits have been made to it, especially by personnel from Australia's Davis station. On a number of occasions, attempts were made to estimate the number of birds in the colony in order to obtain an insight into the size of the breeding population. Here we report on the history of visitation to the colony since the 1950s and examine the quality of information collected with regard to the usefulness of this information in terms of population analyses. We also report the results of the first visit to the Amanda Bay colony made in winter with the specific purpose of estimating the number of birds present and of highlighting the need for long term monitoring programmes to assess the viability of emperor penguins in future.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Serbu ◽  
Vincent L. St.Louis ◽  
Sydney J. A. Enns

<p>Anthropogenic activities have resulted in increased mercury (Hg) emissions, and the deposition of inorganic and methyl Hg to watersheds, including those that are glaciated. Alpine glaciers are melting at unprecedented rates due to climate change, with glacier-fed rivers potentially transporting contaminants such as mercury historically archived in glacial ice to downstream proglacial environments. Hg in glacial rivers can also be derived from natural sources such as the erosion of subglacial and proglacial geologic material as glaciers melt and retreat. Furthermore, as inorganic Hg moves downstream, methylation can occur in regions of the watershed that contain wetlands, for example, transforming into it into toxic methyl Hg (MeHg) that can biomagnify in the watershed’s food web.</p><p>We conducted detailed monthly water quality surveys along three major glacial river transects (the Athabasca, North Saskatchewan, and Bow) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains (Banff and Jasper National Parks, Alberta), that included sampling for total and dissolved concentrations of total Hg (THg; all forms of Hg in a sample) and MeHg up to 100 km downstream of glacial termini. The resultant inter-seasonal data, spanning from May to December in this mid-latitude region, will be used to assess the amount of Hg originating from glacial melt in these systems and how it is transformed as it moves downstream. We will also examine contributions of Hg from the erosion of subglacial and proglacial bedrock material. Preliminary results show that THg and MeHg concentrations are very low in these rivers, consistently measuring at less that 3 ng/L. Additionally, as one moves downstream a larger proportion of THg is in the dissolved fraction. MeHg always measured around or below our laboratory’s detection limit (0.01 ng/L) regardless of the sampling location on our river transects.</p><p>The presence of contaminants such as Hg can have negative impacts on freshwater quality, organisms within the watershed, and downstream human populations. Quantifying the amount and speciation of Hg in the headwaters of three primary watersheds in Canada could have important implications for future research and the ongoing challenge of properly planning for drastic climate change effects in glaciated alpine regions despite concentrations of THg and MeHg being so low. </p>


Author(s):  
Anna V. Chugunkova

As a part of global economy, forestry experiences influence of diverse factors and global climate change in particular, which can affect forestry directly or indirectly via changes in qualitative and quantitative assessment of forest growing stocks, and in positive or negative manner. Climate change effects on Russian forestry are still poorly studied and call for more attention in policy-making. One of the direct impacts is shortening of winter logging season duration, which may result in decreasing wood harvests. Using the data on logging volumes in Krasnoyarsk Krai and Irkutsk Oblast and estimated duration of winter logging season on meteorological stations for the retrospective period of 1966-2018, eight ARDL models were evaluated. The modeling results supported the idea of dependence of harvested wood volumes on winter logging season duration across all considered meteorological stations. To reduce negative impacts on logging industry in terms of wood harvest reduction, adaptation activities in forestry are sorely needed


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aymeric Houstin ◽  
Daniel P. Zitterbart ◽  
Alexander Winterl ◽  
Sebastian Richter ◽  
Víctor Planas-Bielsa ◽  
...  

An increasing number of marine animals are equipped with biologgers, to study their physiology, behaviour and ecology, often for conservation purposes. To minimise the impacts of biologgers on the animals′ welfare, the Refinement principle from the Three Rs framework (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) urges to continuously test and evaluate new and updated biologging protocols. Here, we propose alternative and promising techniques for emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri ) capture and on–site logger deployment that aim to mitigate the potential negative impacts of logger deployment on these birds. We equipped adult emperor penguins for short–term (GPS, Time–Depth Recorder (TDR)) and long–term (i.e. planned for one year) deployments (ARGOS platforms, TDR), as well as juvenile emperor penguins for long-term deployments (ARGOS platforms) in the Weddell Sea area where they had not yet been studied. We describe and qualitatively evaluate our protocols for the attachment of biologgers on–site at the colony, the capture of the animals and the recovery of the devices after deployment. We report unprecedented recaptures of long–term equipped adult emperor penguins (50% of equipped individuals recaptured after 290 days). Our data demonstrate that the traditional technique of long–term attachment by gluing the biologgers directly to the back feathers is detrimental to the birds. It causes excessive feather breakage and the loss of the devices at an early stage. We therefore propose an alternative method of attachment for back–mounted devices. This technique led to successful year–round deployments on 37.5% of the equipped juveniles. Finally, we also disclose the first deployments of leg–bracelet mounted TDRs on emperor penguins. Our findings highlight the importance of monitoring potential impacts of biologger deployments on the animals and the need to remain critical towards established and new protocols.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merin R. Chacko ◽  
Ariane K.A. Goerens ◽  
Jacqueline Oehri ◽  
Elena Plekhanova ◽  
Gabriela Schaepman-Strub

AbstractArctic vegetation types provide food and shelter for fauna, support livelihoods of Northern peoples, and are tightly linked to climate, permafrost soils, lakes, rivers, and the ocean through carbon, energy, water, and nutrient fluxes. Despite its significant role, a comprehensive understanding of climate change effects on Arctic vegetation is lacking. We compare the 2003 baseline with existing 2050 predictions of circumpolar Arctic vegetation type distributions and demonstrate that abundant vegetation types with a proclivity for expansion contribute most to current protected areas. Applying IUCN criteria, we categorize five out of the eight assessed vegetation types as threatened by 2050. Our analyses show that current protected areas are insufficient for the mitigation of climate-imposed threats to these Arctic vegetation types. Therefore, we located potential climate change refugia, areas where vegetation may remain unchanged, at least until 2050, providing the highest potential for safeguarding threatened vegetation types. Our study provides an essential first step to assessing vegetation type vulnerability in the Arctic, but is based on predictions covering only 46% of Arctic landscapes. The co-development of new protective measures by policymakers and indigenous peoples at a pan-Arctic scale requires more robust and spatially complete vegetation predictions. This is essential as increasing pressures from resource exploration and rapid infrastructure development complicate the road to a sustainable development of the rapidly thawing and greening Arctic.


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