Hostname: page-component-5b777bbd6c-sbgtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-06-14T18:08:52.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The impact of the giant iceberg B09B on population size and breeding success of Adélie penguins in Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2016

Kerry-Jayne Wilson ,
Chris S.M. Turney ,
Christopher J. Fogwill  and
Estelle Blair
Kerry-Jayne Wilson*
Affiliation:
West Coast Penguin Trust, PO Box 70, Charleston 7865, West Coast, New Zealand
Chris S.M. Turney
Affiliation:
Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Christopher J. Fogwill
Affiliation:
Climate Change Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Estelle Blair
Affiliation:
29 Neurum Road, Yaroomba, QLD 4573, Australia
*
kerry-jayne@bluepenguin.org.nz
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The arrival of iceberg B09B in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica, and subsequent fast ice expansion has dramatically increased the distance Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) breeding at Cape Denison must travel in search of food. This has provided a natural experiment to investigate the impact of iceberg stranding events and sea ice expansion along the East Antarctic coast. As part of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013–14, the Adélie penguin colony at Cape Denison was censused to compare to historic counts. Whilst some 5520 pairs still bred at Cape Denison there has been an order of magnitude decline in Adélie numbers in the area in comparison to the first counts a century ago and, critically, recent estimates based on satellite images and a census in 1997. In contrast, an Adélie population on the eastern fringe of Commonwealth Bay just 8 km from the fast ice edge was thriving, indicating the arrival of B09B and fast ice expansion was probably responsible for the observed recent population decline. In conclusion, the Cape Denison population could be extirpated within 20 years unless B09B relocates or the now perennial fast ice within the bay breaks out. Our results have important implications for wider East Antarctic if the current increasing sea ice trend continues.

Keywords

Australasian Antarctic Expedition 2013/4iceberg stranding events
Type
Biological Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 28 , Issue 3 , June 2016 , pp. 187 - 193
Check for updates
Copyright
© Antarctic Science Ltd 2016 

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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ainley, D.G. 2002. The Adélie penguin: bellweather of climate change. New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 310 pp.Google Scholar
Ainley, D.G., Wilson, P.R., Barton, K.J., Ballard, G., Nur, N. & Karl, B. 1998. Diet and foraging effort of Adélie penguins in relation to pack-ice conditions in the southern Ross Sea. Polar Biology, 20, 311–319.Google Scholar
Arrigo, K.R. & van Dijken, G.L. 2003. Impact of iceberg C-19 on Ross Sea primary production. Geophysical Research Letters, 30, 10.1029/2003GL017721.Google Scholar
Arrigo, K.R., van Dijken, G.L., Ainley, D.G., Fahnestock, M.A. & Markus, T. 2002. Ecological impact of a large Antarctic iceberg. Geophysical Research Letters, 29, 10.1029/2001GL014160.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campagne, P., Crosta, X., Houssais, M.N., Swingedouw, D., Schmidt, S., Martin, A., Devred, E., Capo, S., Marieu, V., Closset, I. & Masse, G. 2015. Glacial ice and atmospheric forcing on the Mertz Glacier Polynya over the past 250 years. Nature Communication, 6, 10.1038/ncomms7642.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, G.F., Marzinelli, E.M., Fogwill, C.J., Turney, C.S.M. & Johnston, E.L. 2015. Effects of sea ice cover on marine benthic communities: a natural experiment in Commonwealth Bay, East Antarctica. Polar Biology, 38, 10.1007/s00300-015-1688-x.Google Scholar
Dugger, K.M., Ballard, G., Ainley, D.G., Lyver, P.O. & Schine, C. 2014. Adélie penguins coping with environmental change: results from a natural experiment at the edge of their breeding range. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 2, 10.3389/fevo.2014.00068.Google Scholar
Emslie, S.D. & Woehler, E.J. 2005. A 9000-year record of Adélie penguin occupation and diet in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 17, 57–66.Google Scholar
Emslie, S.D., Berkman, P.A., Ainley, D.G., Coats, L. & Polito, M. 2003. Late-Holocene initiation of ice-free ecosystems in the southern Ross Sea, Antarctica. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 262, 19–25.Google Scholar
Ensor, P.H. & Bassett, J.A. 1987. The breeding status of Adélie penguins and other birds on the coast of George V Land, Antarctica. ANARE Research Notes, 50, 1–16.Google Scholar
Falla, R.A. 1937. Birds. B.A.N.Z. Antarctic Research Expedition 1929–1931, Report Series B, 2, 288 pp.Google Scholar
Horne, R.S.C. 1983. The distribution of penguin breeding colonies on the Australian Antarctic Territory, Heard Island, the McDonald Islands, and Macquarie Island. ANARE Research Notes, 9, 1–82.Google Scholar
Lacarra, M., Houssais, M.N., Herbaut, C., Sultan, E. & Beauverger, M. 2014. Dense shelf water production in the Adélie Depression, East Antarctica, 2004–2012: impact of the Mertz Glacier calving. Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans, 119, 5203–5220.Google Scholar
LaRue, M.A., Ainley, D.G., Swanson, M., Dugger, K.M., Lyver, P.O., Barton, K. & Ballard, G. 2013. Climate change winners: receding ice fields facilitate colony expansion and altered dynamics in an Adélie penguin metapopulation. PLoS ONE, 8, 10.1371/journal.pone.0060568.Google Scholar
Lescroël, A., Ballard, G., Grémillet, D., Authier, M. & Ainley, D.G. 2014. Antarctic climate change: extreme events disrupt plastic phenotypic response in Adélie penguins. PLoS ONE, 9, 10.1371/journal.pone.0085291.Google Scholar
Lynch, H.J. & LaRue, M.A. 2014. First global census of the Adélie penguin. Auk, 131, 10.1642/AUK-14-31.1Google Scholar
Mawson, D. 1915. The home of the blizzard: being the story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914. William Heinemann, 348 & 338 pp.Google Scholar
Mawson, D. 1929. Narrative, Part 1. Cartography, Part 2. Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911–14 Scientific Report, Series A, 1, 492 pp.Google Scholar
Mawson, D. 1940. Oceanography. Part 5. Marine biological programme and other zoological and botanical activities. Australasian Antarctic Expedition 1911–14 Scientific Report, Series A, 2, 167 pp.Google Scholar
Mawson’s Huts Foundation 2012. Aerial photograph of Cape Denison 2010/2011 by M. Possingham. http://www.mawsons-huts.org.au/shop/postcards/. Viewed 17 June 2015.Google Scholar
Parish, T.R. & Walker, R. 2006. A re-examination of the winds of Adélie Land, Antarctica. Australian Meteorological Magazine, 55, 105–117.Google Scholar
Shadwick, E.H., Rintoul, S.R., Tilbrook, B., Williams, G.D., Young, N., Fraser, A.D., Marchant, H., Smith, J. & Tamura, T. 2013. Glacier tongue calving reduced dense water formation and enhanced carbon uptake. Geophysical Research Letters, 40, 904–909.Google Scholar
Shepherd, L.D., Millar, C.D., Ballard, G., Ainley, D.G., Wilson, P.R., Haynes, G.D., Baroni, C. & Lambert, D.M. 2005. Microevolution and mega-icebergs in the Antarctic. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102, 16 717–16 722.Google Scholar
Tamura, T., Williams, G.G., Fraser, A.D. & Ohshima, K.I. 2012. Potential regime shift in decreased sea ice production after the Mertz Glacier calving. Nature Communication, 3, 10.1038/ncomms1820.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watanuki, Y., Kato, A., Mori, Y. & Naito, Y. 1993. Diving performance of Adélie penguins in relation to food availability in fast sea ice areas: comparison between years. Journal of Animal Ecology, 62, 634–646.Google Scholar
Watanuki, Y., Kato, A., Naito, Y., Robertson, G. & Robinson, S. 1997. Diving and foraging behaviour of Adélie penguins in areas with and without fast sea ice. Polar Biology, 17, 296–304.Google Scholar
Watanuki, Y., Kato, A., Sato, K., Niizuma, Y., Bost, C.A., Le Maho, Y. & Naito, Y. 2002. Parental mass change and food provisioning in Adélie penguins rearing chicks in colonies with contrasting sea ice conditions. Polar Biology, 25, 10.1007/s00300-002-0399-2.Google Scholar
Wilson, K.-J., Taylor, R.H. & Barton, K.J. 1990. The impact of man on Adélie penguins at Cape Hallett, Antarctica. In Kerry, K.R. & Hempel, G., eds. Antarctic ecosystems. Ecological change and conservation. Berlin: Springer, 183–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilson, K.-J., Turney, C., Fogwill, C. & Hunter, J. 2015. Low numbers and apparent long-term stability of South Polar skuas Stercorarius maccormicki at Commonwealth Bay, Antarctica. Marine Ornithology, 43, 103–106.Google Scholar
Woehler, E. 1999. updated 2014. Cape Denison Adélie penguin census, November–December 1997 Australian Antarctic Data Centre – CAASM metadata. https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/metadata _redirect.cfm?md=/AMD/AU/ASAC_1219_AAT_APen_CD_97.Google Scholar
Woehler, E.J., Slip, D.J., Robertson, L.M., Fullager, P.J. & Burton, H.R. 1991. The distribution, abundance and status of Adélie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae at the Windmill Islands, Wilkes Land, Antarctica. Marine Ornithology, 19, 1–18.Google Scholar