A group of researchers studying the adelie penguin and the impact of climate change on them made a surprising discovery. They made observations in the East Antarctic territory of the birds and tried to see the changes that could have occurred in the last 22,000 years.
The experts focused on the last ice age period and the current state of global warming today. With their findings, the researchers concluded that rather than hurting the penguins, the rising temperature due to climate change may actually be beneficial for the birds.
Then again, this result contradicts most of the earlier findings of scientists. For instance, Penguins World stated that "due to global warming around the world, their natural environment is affected."
According to the publication, the thinning ice also expose the penguins to predators since the thick sheets of ice have always provided them protection. It further stated that scientists believe that the population of penguins in the Antarctic territory have significantly gone down in the last 50 years because of climate change.
Likewise, Shaye Wolf, a biologist for the Climate Law Institute of the Center for Biological Diversity, seconded this statement with her post on Action Bioscience.
"Another Antarctic penguin that is being affected by global climate change is the Adélie penguin. This type of penguin builds a nest out of pebbles on the sparse areas of the Antarctic shoreline that are free of ice and snow but the warmer temperatures allow the air to hold more moisture, and this leads to more snowfall in the region," Wolf said.
Additionally, the biologist stated that Adélie penguin are vanishing fast because they can't find a space, without snow, to build their nest. The bird's food supply is also affected by the decrease of winter sea ice.
The Results of Latest Research
Meanwhile, in the research carried out by a team from University of Tasmania - Australia, they investigated how Adelie penguins have changed since 22,000 years ago. The study was made possible by using DNA from living penguins.
The conclusion of the research which was published on BMC Evolutionary Biology, revealed that the shrinking of glaciers has something to do with the population explosion of Adelie penguins. They found out that the number of Adelies in East Antarctica has gone up at least 135 times compared to how it was 19,000 years ago.
Jane Younger, the lead author of the research said, "We found that the Adelie penguin population in East Antarctica was very small during the ice age, but then penguin numbers increased by roughly 135-fold after the ice age ended."
She added, "The increase started around 14,000 years ago, about the same time as glaciers were shrinking in East Antarctica."
Finally, although it appears that the penguins probably benefited from climate change, Younger made it clear that "the case in the future remains to be seen, as the impacts of climate change on Adelie penguin prey species, such as Antarctic krill, are unclear at this time."
