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Projected poleward shift of king penguins' (Aptenodytes patagonicus) foraging range at the Crozet Island, southern Indian Ocean
Citation
Peron, C and Weimerskirch, H and Bost, C-A, Projected poleward shift of king penguins' (Aptenodytes patagonicus) foraging range at the Crozet Island, southern Indian Ocean, Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B, 279, (1738) pp. 2515-2523. ISSN 0962-8452 (2012) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
Copyright 2012 The Royal Society
DOI: doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.2705
Abstract
Seabird populations of the Southern Ocean have been responding to climate change for the last three decades
and demographic models suggest that projected warming will cause dramatic population changes over
the next century. Shift in species distribution is likely to be one of the major possible adaptations to changing
environmental conditions. Habitat models based on a unique long-term tracking dataset of king
penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) breeding on the Crozet Islands (southern Indian Ocean) revealed that
despite a significant influence of primary productivity and mesoscale activity, sea surface temperature consistently
drove penguins’ foraging distribution. According to climate models of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the projected warming of surface waters would lead to a gradual southward
shift of the more profitable foraging zones, ranging from 25 km per decade for the B1 IPCC scenario
to 40 km per decade for the A1B and A2 scenarios. As a consequence, distances travelled by incubating and
brooding birds to reach optimal foraging zones associated with the polar front would double by 2100. Such
a shift is far beyond the usual foraging range of king penguins breeding and would negatively affect the
Crozet population on the long term, unless penguins develop alternative foraging strategies.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | habitat model, penguins, polar front, distribution shift, IPCC climate models |
Research Division: | Biological Sciences |
Research Group: | Ecology |
Research Field: | Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) |
Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences |
UTAS Author: | Peron, C (Dr Clara Peron) |
ID Code: | 92759 |
Year Published: | 2012 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 85 |
Deposited By: | Sustainable Marine Research Collaboration |
Deposited On: | 2014-06-26 |
Last Modified: | 2014-08-04 |
Downloads: | 0 |
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