For this study, scientists observed nesting zones of Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie penguins between 2012 and 2022 using dozens of time-lapse cameras placed at colonies across Antarctica.<\/p>\n
Gentoo penguins demonstrated the greatest change with the timing of their breeding season brought forward 13 days over the decade – and up to 24 days in some colonies.<\/p>\n
This is the fastest change in breeding season observed in any bird – and possibly vertebrate – to date, the scientists said.<\/p>\n
Adelie and Chinstrap penguins also advanced their breeding season by an average of 10 days.<\/p>\n
The findings were published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.<\/p>\n
Winners and losers<\/p>\n
Antarctica is one of the fastest-warming regions in the world and annual average temperatures there reached record highs last year, the European Union climate monitor Copernicus said this month.<\/p>\n
The exact mechanisms by which rising temperatures affect penguin behaviour are not yet fully understood by scientists.<\/p>\n
The three species traditionally staggered their breeding seasons but the earlier timing was likely causing an overlap, increasing competition for food and snow-free nesting space.<\/p>\n
This was better news for Gentoos – natural foragers suited to more temperate conditions – and less so for Chinstrap and Adelie penguins.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have already seen Gentoos take nests that were previously occupied by Adelies or Chinstraps,\u201d said Martinez.<\/p>\n
Gentoo numbers are already expanding in a milder Antarctica while Chinstrap and Adelie penguins, more dependent on krill – tiny shrimp-like creatures on which they feed – and specific ice conditions, are declining.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs penguins are considered \u2018a bellwether of climate change\u2019, the results of this study have implications for species across the planet,\u201d Fiona Jones, a co-author of the study from Oxford University, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Martinez said it was \u201ctoo early to tell\u201d if this adaptation was beneficial or if penguins were being forced to make drastic changes that could affect their breeding success.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now studying their ability to raise chicks of each species. If they maintain a high number of chicks, that will mean this is good news and they are indeed adapting to climate change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
-Agence France-Presse<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For this study, scientists observed nesting zones of Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie penguins between 2012 and 2022 using…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":243137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[3225,21453,192,806,18532,6757,12974,4442,19134,1437,111,139,69,35994,3227,67666,7676,1974,1518,312,147,9433,6926,383,7187,165,142639,406],"class_list":["post-243136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-according","tag-antarctica","tag-are","tag-as","tag-breeding","tag-bringing","tag-change","tag-climate","tag-forward","tag-global","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-penguins","tag-published","tag-rapidly","tag-rates","tag-record","tag-research","tag-says","tag-science","tag-scientists","tag-season","tag-study","tag-team","tag-their","tag-warms","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}