Date:
April 19, 2017
Source:
American Ornithological Society Publications Office
Not
even the most intrepid researcher wants to spend winter in Antarctica, so how
can you learn what penguins are doing during those cold, dark months? Simple:
Leave behind some cameras. Year-round studies across the full extent of a
species' range are especially important in polar areas, where individuals
within a single species may adopt a variety of different migration strategies
to get by, and a new study from The Auk: Ornithological Advances uses this
unique approach to get new insights into Gentoo Penguin behavior.
Gentoo
Penguins are of interest to scientists because they're increasing at the
southern end of their range in the Western Antarctic Peninsula, a region where
other penguin species are declining. Little is known about their behavior
during the nonbreeding season, so Caitlin Black and Tom Hart of the University
of Oxford and Andrea Raya Rey of Argentina's Consejo Nacional de
Investigaciones Cientificas y Técnicas used time-lapse cameras to examine
patterns in Gentoo Penguins' presence at breeding sites across their range
during the off season. They found both temporal and spatial factors driving
winter attendance -- for example, more Gentoo Penguins were present at breeding
sites when there was open water or free-floating pack ice than when the
shoreline was iced in, and more Gentoo Penguins were at breeding sites earlier
in nonbreeding season than later.
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