Penguin, Krill Populations in Freefall

[n2doc]

By Jessica Marshall
Mon Apr 11, 2011

Numbers of Chinstrap and Adélie penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula region have dropped by more than 50 percent in the last 30 years, driven mainly by dramatic declines in supplies of tiny, shrimp-like krill, their main prey, says a new study.

Krill, meanwhile, have declined by 40 to 80 percent, due primarily to rapidly warming temperatures in the area -- the South Shetland Islands near the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and nearby sites.

This is one of the fastest-warming places on the planet with winter mean temperatures some 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer now than in pre-industrial times.

Researchers previously thought that chinstrap penguins would flourish as temperatures warmed because they winter in the open water near ice edges, unlike Adélie penguins, which winter on pack ice. In earlier years, chinstraps did better in warmer winters, while Adélie penguins grew their numbers in cold winters with lots of ice.

more
http://news.discovery.com/animals/chinstrap-adelie-penguins-krill-110411.html

Sorry Penguins, but cheap coal and gas are more important than you.

[jpak]

1. The Adelie rookeries near Palmer Station are being abandoned - and the Chinstraps have arrived there

After the snow melts, you can see hectares of abandoned nest sites - and many the remaining nesting sites are becoming fragmented, leaving nesting pairs isolated and vulnerable to skua predation of eggs and hatchlings.

On top of that - late winter snowfall now delays snow melt during the early nesting season. Nesting pairs build pebble nests directly on the snow, which later melts and causes the eggs and hatchilngs to die of hypothermia or freezing.

poor things

[orwell]

2. Who needs penguins...

...we need more tax breaks for the wealthy!

Now gas up the Hummer and drive to Washington!