Food shortages threaten Antarctic wildlife
Antarctic whales, seals and penguins could be threatened by food shortages in the Southern Ocean. Numbers of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba), a shrimp-like crustacean at the heart of the food chain, are declining. The most likely explanation is a dramatic decline in sea-ice. The re...B-15A iceberg's close encounter monitored by Envisat
... the vicinity and the starvation of numerous local penguins unable to forage the local sea. ESA's Envisat has been tracking the progress of B-15A for more than two years. An animated flyover based on past Envisat imagery begins by depicting the region as it was in January 2004, as seen by the optical Medium ...New collision looks imminent for B-15A iceberg
...lly rich in wildlife, noted for colonies of Adelie penguins as well as Weddell seals and Skuas. If B-15A were to remain in its current position for any prolonged length of time, the danger is that the iceberg could pin sea-ice behind it, blocking the easy access to open water that local animal inhabitants cur...Scripps marine research physiologist pioneer to receive lifetime achievement award
...s extensive work recording the behavior of emperor penguins helped him identify them as a harbinger of the stresses placed on Antarctic ecosystems by global climate change. A component of the Norris Award recognizes a recipient's efforts to mentor younger researchers. Estes recalls being "transfixed" when h...El Nino events affect whale breeding
...hese whales. It is known that these changes affect penguins and seals in the Antarctic, but this is the first time the link has been made with whales as they return to their calving grounds in the South Atlantic. Keith Reid from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) said, "These results help us to understand process...Penguins waddle but they don't fall down, UH researchers say
...eathery tuxedoes and charming Chilly Willy-waddle, penguins are the quintessence of cute. Small wonder they'r... ultra-cute creatures. Dozens of teeter-tottering penguins are the subjects of a research project investigating balance and locomotion. "Compared to other ...Penguins okay with human visitors for now
...d in response to stress (plasma corticosterone) of penguins when encountering humans. "Head turns of penguins visited for 10 days were significantly lower than those of penguins visited for 5 days and were not ...Chronic oil pollution takes toll on seabirds along South American coast
...lished by Elsevier. The negative effects of oil on penguins could be a barometer for less-hardy species, she s...itated by the groups from 1995 to 2005. Live oiled penguins were most common in northern Argentina and less common farther north, along the coasts of Uruguay an...Antarctic krill provide carbon sink in Southern Ocean
...me that krill are the main food source for whales, penguins and seals, but we had no idea that their tactics to avoid being eaten could have such added benefits to the environment. By parachuting down they transport carbon which sinks ultimately to the ocean floor an amount equivalent to the annual emission...Duke biologist/poet is up to 'animal mischief'
... For example, the book's cover features, not only penguins building snowmen and having snowball fights, but paradoxically also a raccoon and armadillos, with a parrot making a snow angel and a salamander indecorously flattened by a snowball. Said Jacobsen, "The animals had to be fairly accurate, not overly p...Starving diamond-back still grows; rattler cuts metabolism 80 percent, use lipid energy source
...whether for hours or months. In the arctic winter, penguins and polar bears store up huge amounts of fat but stay active. Hibernators such as squirrels and groundhogs fatten up for the winter then lower their metabolism by sleeping off. But desert snakes don't display any such outward manifestation that migh...Global warming capable of sparking mass species extinctions
...enormous threats. "It isn't just polar bears and penguins that we must worry about anymore," said Lee Hannah, co-author of the study and senior fellow for climate change at Conservation International. "The hotspots studied in this paper are essentially refugee camps for many of our planet's most unique pla...Creating a window on 'oceans in motion'
...ing from salmon to whales and from polar bears to penguins and priority areas for ocean floor acoustic monitoring arrays. "These are key questions: which species do we want to track and exactly where do we wire up the world to create an effective global system of watching the oceans in motion," says Dr. O'D...Ecological change, climate variation addressed at international conference, September 20-24
...ed a 75 percent decline in the population of Adlie penguins along the West Antarctic Peninsula, according to scientist William Fraser (Polar Oceans Research Group, Sheridan, MT). Adlie penguins, as well as several species of seals and whales, depend on sea ice in their normal life cycles. The unseen melt: G...Video explains what science learns from avian stars of 'Happy Feet' and 'March of the Penguins'
...endless struggle to survive and reproduce, Emperor penguins intrigued early Antarctic explorers. As movie m...Foundation (NSF) is making available B-roll of the penguins in Antarctica. The agency is also offering journalists the opportunity to ask Antarctic researchers ...Human preference for other species could determine whether they survive
...rised by the relative lack of popularity of Adelie penguins because that species is probably the most familiar...phs from consideration when factors other than the penguins themselves the surrounding landscape, for example, or accompanying humans could have played a role...Huddling and a drop in metabolism allow penguins to survive the South Pole cold
... Oscar winning documentary, showed how the emperor penguins endure their incubation and fast for four dark and...ch year. The tight huddling among these South Pole penguins is a key energy-saving mechanism that allows them to endure their extremely harsh conditions. A t...UTSA researchers examine effects of global warming on Antarctic
...r ongoing projects included observations of seals, penguins and seabirds; biological activity in the sea water; and temperature and salinity measurements into the ocean depths. Now with one trip to the Antarctic under their belt, Xie and Cicek are enlisting the help of world-renowned sea ice expert Stephe...Antarctic warming to reduce animals at base of ecosystem, shift some penguin populations southward
...ng its margins," Lyons said. "Gentoo and chinstrap penguins are shifting south into areas now populated by adelie penguins, and the adelies are being forced further south, all because of the change in sea ice." A decrease in sea ice along the coast shows a drop in krill in the marine environment. As a majo...... used to monitor the effects of climate change. If penguins are travelling further or diving deeper for food, ...may be able to assess the pressure exerted by king penguins on this ecosystem, and look at the effects of both climate change and overfishing in this region of ...