Mating March of the Penguin Slows Down
Source >
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060403/sc_space/matingmarchofthepenguinslowsdown
Bjorn Carey
LiveScience Staff Writer
LiveScience.com Mon Apr 3, 6:02 PM ET
Penguins and other Antarctic seabirds are nesting and
laying their eggs later than they did 50 years ago, a
response, scientists say, to global climate change.
While the effects of climate change on animal behavior
have been well documented in the Northern Hemisphere,
the effects are less well known south of the equator.
In North America and Europe, cold-weather animals are
generally shifting northward as the Arctic warms and
the ice cap shrinks.
A new study by two scientists at the Centre National
de la Recherche Scientifique in France compiled data
for Antarctic seabird nesting from 1950 to 2004. It
reveals that nine species of birds are, on average,
arriving nine days later to nest. The birds are also
laying their eggs two days later.
Upside down
This runs opposite to shifts in avian habits in the
Northern Hemisphere, where earlier springs and
increased food availability has led to birds migrating
and laying eggs earlier in the season.
In Antarctica, the delay appears to be tied to sea
ice.
Unlike western Antarctica, no major warming or cooling
has occurred in eastern Antarctica since the 1950's.
However, in eastern Antarctica, sea-ice range has
reduced 12 to 20 percent since the 1950's, owing to
global warming, scientists say. Yet localized cooling
has caused the sea-ice season to increase by more than
40 days since the 1970's.
These changes have been associated with a decline in
abundances of krill and other marine organisms that
are food resources for most Antarctic seabirds.
This may partly explain the delay in seabirds' arrival
and laying dates, the researchers say, since seabirds
need more time to build up the reserves necessary for
breeding.
Get to it
The shift represents a seven-day compression of the
prelaying period when birds set up territories, court,
and females make their eggs, suggesting that the
birds' reproductive processes have some plasticity.
However, the scientists caution, if the seabirds
continue to become less synchronized with their food
source, and the sea ice continues to block their
nesting sites, these species could suffer if they fail
to respond appropriately, either through
microevolution or behavior changes, to climate change.
This study is detailed in the April 3 online edition
of the Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences. The species affected:
emperor penguin, Adelie penguin, southern giant
petrel, southern fulmar, Antarctic petrel, Cape
petrel, snow petrel, Wilson's storm petrel and the
south polar skua.
* Penguin Shuffle: The Next Rage?
* Shifting Icebergs May Have Forced Penguin
Evolution
* How Global Warming is Changing the Wild Kingdom
* Animals and Plants Adapting to Climate Change
* More Frogs Dying as Planet Warms
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