Today an international team
of scientists funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and supported
by its Office of Polar Programs and the U.S. Antarctic Program is researching
how penguins are coping with a rapidly changing climate, as well as to equally
profound changes caused by commercial fishing.
Researchers have come to Ross Island to study penguin colonies, giant living
laboratories where thousands of Adélie penguins converge in raucous
crowds during Antarctica’s warmer months to breed and rear their young.
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Amid
this activity, researchers David Ainley, Grant Ballard, Katie Dugger and
others monitor the birds with an array of high tech equipment, including
computerized weigh bridges, satellite telemetry, and microchips to identify
individual penguins. With these tools the team is examining how penguin
resources (prey and habitat), and competition (among themselves and with
other species such as whales), and climate factors (wind and sea ice conditions)
are affecting their populations.
In addition to advanced technology, 55 years of long-term research conducted
at these colonies has made the Adélie penguin one of the world’s
best-studied wild birds, and, lately, a harbinger of environmental change.
For a summary of what we know and how we know that penguins are changing their life patterns in response to their changing oceans and climate, go to the 'Climate & Penguins' section on the main menu or use the following links:
Climate Change | Advanced grades
Climate Change | Middle school
Climate Change | How do we Know?
