Penguins are advancing their breeding season at record rates as Antarctica rapidly warms due to climate change, according to research published Tuesday by an international team of scientists.
The unprecedented shift, recorded over a decade, was found to be “highly correlated” with rising temperatures across the frozen continent, said the study’s lead author, Ignacio Juarez Martinez of the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University.
Penguin breeding is closely linked to food availability, and shrinking sea ice has made hunting grounds and snow-free nesting sites accessible earlier in the year. Scientists had expected a modest change but were “very surprised both by the scale and the speed of the advance,” Martinez told AFP.
“The scale is so great that penguins in most areas are now breeding earlier than at any point in historical records,” he said. Researchers observed nesting zones of Gentoo, Chinstrap and Adelie penguins between 2012 and 2022 using dozens of time-lapse cameras placed at colonies across Antarctica.
Gentoo penguins showed the most dramatic shift, bringing their breeding season forward by an average of 13 days over the decade — and by as much as 24 days in some colonies. Scientists said this is the fastest change in breeding timing ever documented in any bird, and possibly among all vertebrates.
Adelie and Chinstrap penguins also advanced their breeding seasons by about 10 days on average. The findings were published in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
Winners and losers
Antarctica is among the fastest-warming regions in the world, with annual average temperatures hitting record highs last year, according to the EU climate monitor Copernicus.
The exact mechanisms linking rising temperatures to changes in penguin behaviour remain unclear. Traditionally, the three species staggered their breeding seasons, but the earlier timing is now likely causing overlaps that increase competition for food and snow-free nesting sites.
This shift appears to favour Gentoo penguins, which are better adapted to milder conditions, while Chinstrap and Adelie penguins are losing ground. “We have already seen Gentoos take nests that were previously occupied by Adelies or Chinstraps,” Martinez said.
Gentoo populations are expanding in a warming Antarctica, while Chinstrap and Adelie penguins — which depend more heavily on krill and specific ice conditions — are declining. “As penguins are considered a bellwether of climate change, the results of this study have implications for species across the planet,” said Fiona Jones, a co-author from Oxford University.
Martinez said it remains “too early to tell” whether the shift will ultimately benefit penguins or undermine breeding success. “We are now studying their ability to raise chicks. If they maintain high chick survival rates, that would suggest they are adapting to climate change,” he said.
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