Climate Change: Is this the End for Adélie Penguins?

New research has suggested that Adélie penguins – a subspecies found in Antarctica – might see their continued existence threatened if climate change continues at current rates. The data was gathered by analysing satellite images of penguin colonies over a 30-year period and monitoring fluctuations in size and variations in location.

While revealing some interesting conclusions about how global warming has positively impacted the penguins in the past, the study now appears to suggest they could become endangered if temperatures in the Antarctic continue to rise.

The rise and fall of the Adélie penguin

The study, first published in the journal Scientific Reports, analysed satellite images from 1981 to 2010 and paid particular attention to the size of colonies and their migratory movements. After cross-referencing this information with concurrent fluctuations in sea temperature and how these affected the amount of available rock surfaces for nesting, the researchers found the global warming has actually proved beneficial for the penguins in the past.

The melting of glaciers has uncovered more rock for the penguins to nest upon and colonise, leading to a thriving in their numbers. However, the researchers concluded that “in many regions of Antarctica climate warming has tipped past peak suitability so that further warming is no longer beneficial to Adélie penguins.”

They came to these conclusions by noting that the years in which annual average sea temperatures were above normal, the colony size was significantly reduced. This suggests that warmer subaquatic temperatures are detrimental to the health and livelihood of the flightless birds, although researchers are still unclear as to exactly why. One explanation could be the knock-on effect such temperature rises have on the food they like to eat.

Extrapolating current trends in global warming and projecting them into the future, the authors of the study believe that as much as 30% of the entire Adélie population could be under threat by 2060, with that percentage doubling by the end of the century.

Adélie not the only species under threat

The penguins aren’t the only sea creatures to be threatened by rising temperatures beneath the waves. Indeed, a very high profile story this year has involved the Great Barrier Reef (among other coral reefs, including those off the coast of the Maldives) and how global warming has led to the largest bleaching crisis in history.

Elevated sea temperatures make the conditions underwater unsuitable for the organisms which such reefs depend upon for nourishment and growth. As the organisms move away in search of cooler climes, the reef dies and turns white.

Meanwhile, human activities are threatening marine life in other ways, too. The Baltic Sea's water quality is currently under threat from unchecked industry in St Petersburg, for example. Improper methods of waste disposal are compromising water quality in the surrounding seas, thus endangering countless species who call the area home.