Warming Antarctic is shifting penguin breeding and stressing two species
AP News • • world
Key Points:
- Antarctic penguins are breeding about two weeks earlier than a decade ago due to a 3°C temperature increase from 2012 to 2022, disrupting the timing of food availability for their chicks, according to a study in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
- The three brush-tailed penguin species affected—Adelie, chinstrap, and gentoo—are experiencing shifts in breeding times, with gentoos breeding earlier and overlapping with the other species, leading to increased competition for food and nesting areas.
- Climate change is causing declines in chinstrap and Adelie penguins, with models predicting possible extinction of chinstraps and local extinction of Adelies in the Antarctic Peninsula by the end of the century.
- Warming temperatures reduce sea
