Almost no eggs hatch at emperor penguin breeding ground in three years
Climate change could be behind what is being described as the worst breeding failure in 60 years.
Thursday 25 April 2019 13:36, UK
Antarctica's second-biggest breeding ground for emperor penguins has seen almost no eggs hatched in the past three years.
It is the worst breeding failure in 60 years, scientists have warned.
Up to 24,000 breeding pairs of emperor penguins would travel yearly to a breeding site at Halley Bay on the Brunt Ice Shelf, considered a secure place for breeding despite rising sea levels.
However, in 2016 and 2017 there was no breeding and in 2018 there was only a very small amount, according to a study published in Antarctic Science.
Scientists believe it is down to the sharp decline in climate and weather conditions that break apart the fast ice - sea ice connected to the land. It is where the penguins breed before later heading to open sea.
“We’ve never seen a breeding failure on a scale like this in 60 years,” said co-author of the study Phil Trathan, head of conservation biology at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).
He added that around 8% of the world’s emperor penguin population breed at Halley Bay.
Breeding populations have flocked to a nearby breeding ground, but the study’s author stated that it was significantly less than the population of Halley Bay.
The nearby Dawson Lambton colony has significantly increased in size, which had been home to a couple of thousand pairs, growing from 11,117 pairs in 2017 to 14,612 pairs in 2018, the study found.
However, Mr Trathan cautioned that although the rise was encouraging, it did not account for all the lost breeding at Halley Bay.
"Not everybody has gone to Dawson Lambton yet," he said.
Mr Trathan warned that the shift in breeding suggests a threat to the endangered penguin species, suggesting "a loss of 50-70% of [emperor penguin] numbers before the end of this century as a result of climate change."