There are
about 600,000 emperor penguins which are twice as many emperor penguins in
Antarctica how many people thought there were. The numbers of penguins were
counted from space. The census technique used is to locate individual colonies
and that is done by looking for big brown patches of guano (penguin poo) on the
white ice. Then high resolution imagery is used to find out the number of birds
present in the area.
The
satellite mapping approach will provide the means of monitoring the long-term
health of the penguins’ population. Climate modeling proposed that the number
of penguins could fall in the decades in the future if warming around
Antarctica erodes the ice on which the animals nest and launch their raids for
seafood.
Peter Fretwell from the British Antarctic
Survey (BAS) stated that “If we want to understand whether emperor penguins are
endangered by climate change, we have to know first how many birds there are
currently and have a methodology to monitor them year on year.” He also said
that, “This study gives us that baseline population, which is quite surprising
because it’s twice as many as we thought, but it also gives us the ability to
follow their progress to see if that population is changing over time.”
The scientists identified 44 key
penguin colonies on the White Continent, and seven of them have not been recognized
before. Even with the highest resolution satellite pictures, it is impossible
to count each individual bird, so the scientist had to regulate their analysis
of the colonies by using ground counts and aerial photography in some places.
The number 600,000 penguins are
double of the previous estimate which was 270,000~350,000 emperor penguins. Michelle
LaRue from the University of Minnesota said that “we can conduct research
safely and efficiently with little environmental impact.” She also stated that
this method can be used to find out the population of other poorly understood
species in Antarctica.
The amount of sea ice in Antarctica
is thought to be relatively stable in recent years. Still the computer modeling
suggests that warming of the climate might cause the loss of more northern ice
floes in Antarctica later this century.
If the ice melts, it might be a
problem since the ice might start to melt before the baby penguins had chance
to acquire their full adult, waterproof plumage. Also the krill (tiny
crustaceans) which the penguins feed on are also dependent on ice since the krill
eats the algae on the ice.
Peter Fretwell said, “The emperor
penguins has evolved into a very narrow ecological niche; it’s an animal that
breeds in the coldest environment in the world.” “It has an advantage in that
environment because there are no predators and no competition for its food.” If
Antarctica gets warmer, it will be easier for the predators and competitors to
move in and that would cause a problem for the emperor penguin.
This article is interesting because
I was always interested to know what is happening in Antarctica and also, the
penguins are one of my favorite animals. To help the emperor penguins survive,
the humans have to work together to reduce the amount of global warming. As
stated in the article, if the temperature rises in Antarctica, penguins’
predators will be able to go to Antarctica and other species that would compete
for the food will come to Antarctica too. For animals like emperor penguin that have a
very narrow niche will not be able to survive in such an environment. Penguins
are most probably specialists meaning that they only live on the certain
habitat and condition, so it will be hard for the penguins to adapt to the
warmer climate and other species that are generalists meaning that they are
able to live on any habitat and condition will dominate the area where the
penguins live.
The global warming is not a problem
for the penguins only. It might cause great problem for the humans too because
if all the ice in Antarctica melts, it is said that some countries might be
under water. Scientists also suggested that if the ice melts, Japan will
definitely be below the sea level. I’m sure many other countries would be
drowned by the water. The people have to work together to reduce the amount of
pollution which will reduce the warming of the weather. It might not be a big deal
now, but if the matter is left unnoticed, the people will suffer with many
consequences.
Word Count: 750
No comments:
Post a Comment