Emperor penguin at critical risk of extinction as a consequence of climate change

The emperor penguin is at extreme risk of extinction in the next 30 to 40 years on account of climate change, based on research by the Argentine Antarctic Institute (IAA).

The emperor, the world's largest penguin and one in all solely two penguin species endemic to Antarctica, offers start during the Antarctic winter and requires solid sea ice from April by to December to nest fledgling chicks.

If the ocean freezes later or melts prematurely, the emperor household can not full its reproductive cycle.

"If the water reaches the new child penguins, which aren't able to swim and do not need waterproof plumage, they die of the chilly and drown," said biologist Marcela Libertelli, who has studied 15,000 penguins across two colonies in Antarctica at the IAA.

This has happened at the Halley Bay colony within the Weddell Sea, the second-largest Emperor penguin colony, where for three years all of the chicks died.

Each August, in the midst of the southern hemisphere winter, Dr Libertelli and other scientists at Argentina's Marambio Base in Antarctica travel 65 km every day by motorbike in temperatures as little as -40 levels Celsius to reach the closest Emperor penguin colony.

As soon as there, they count, weigh, and measure the chicks, gather geographical coordinates, and take blood samples. They also conduct aerial evaluation.

The scientists' findings level to a grim future for the species if climate change is not mitigated.

"[Climate] projections recommend that the colonies which can be situated between latitudes 60 and 70 degrees [south] will disappear in the next few decades; that's, within the subsequent 30, 40 years," Dr Libertelli said.

The emperor's unique options include the longest reproductive cycle among penguins.

After a chick is born, one guardian continues carrying it between its legs for heat till it develops its closing plumage.

"The disappearance of any species is a tragedy for the planet. Whether small or massive, plant or animal — it would not matter. It's a loss for biodiversity," Dr Libertelli mentioned.

The emperor penguin's disappearance might have a dramatic impression throughout Antarctica, an extreme atmosphere where food chains have fewer members and fewer hyperlinks, Dr Libertelli mentioned.

In early April, the World Meteorological Organization warned of "increasingly excessive temperatures coupled with unusual rainfall and ice melting in Antarctica" — a "worrying pattern", said Dr Libertelli, with Antarctic ice sheets depleting since a minimum of 1999.

The rise of tourism and fishing in Antarctica have additionally put the emperor's future at risk by affecting krill, one of the foremost sources of meals for penguins and other species.

"Tourist boats often have various adverse effects on Antarctica, as do the fisheries," Dr Libertelli said.

"It will be significant that there's greater control and that we think about the longer term."

Reuters