NELSON Mandela University\u2019s long-term research on King penguins at Marion Island formed part of an international study which predicts that 70% of the sub-Antarctic seabirds could disappear by 2100, as a result of climate change. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study found that warmer sea temperatures are shifting King penguins\u2019 main food sources further south and, unless the penguins move too, they could starve. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMore than 70% of the world\u2019s King penguin population form breeding colonies on Crozet, Kerguelen and Marion Island,\u201d said Nelson Mandela University zoology senior lecturer Dr Pierre Pistorius, one of the co-authors of a paper on the study, which has been published in the prestigious journal Nature Climate Change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pistorius, who heads the Marine Apex Predator Research Unit (MAPRU) at Nelson Mandela University, said King penguins rely on the Antarctic Polar Front \u2013 an upwelling front in the Southern Ocean, where cold Antarctic and warmer sub-Antarctic water meet, churning up nutrients and attracting enormous amounts of fish \u2013 as their main food source. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the breeding season, parents leave their chicks to swim 350km to 500km to the front, returning days later with food for their young. But warmer seas are shifting the front further south \u2013 and the study predicts that the penguins will have to swim more than 700km, the maximum distance they can travel to find food without compromising the survival of their chicks, due to their own increased energy expenditure. The possible starvation of their chicks could lead to huge population crashes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe front moves from year to year depending on the temperature of the ocean \u2013 and we have already seen impacts in King penguin numbers in the years it has shifted further away from the breeding sites,\u201d said Pistorius. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The study says King penguins could save themselves by moving to other islands further south, except they have strict habitat requirements, so a new home might be hard to find. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To form a colony where they can mate, lay eggs and rear chicks over a year, they need tolerable temperatures all year round, no sea ice around the island, relatively smooth beaches \u2013 and a food source close by to feed their young. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Polar regions are feeling the impact of climate change the most \u2013 and the Southern Ocean is also subject to commercial fishing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Study co-author and co-supervisor Dr Celine Le Bohec, from the University of Strasbourg in France said, \u201cif we want to save anything, proactive and efficient conservation efforts but, above all, coordinated global action against global warming should start now.\u201d -REPORTER<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NELSON Mandela University\u2019s long-term research on King penguins at Marion Island formed part of an international study which predicts that 70% of the sub-Antarctic seabirds could disappear by 2100, as a result of climate 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