Scientists gauge foraging success
by spying with time-lapse video
Date: May 2, 2018
Source: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
For Emperor penguins waddling
around a warming Antarctic, diminishing sea ice means less fish to eat. How the
diets of these tuxedoed birds will hold up in the face of climate change is a
big question scientists are grappling with.
Researchers at the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) have developed a way to help determine the
foraging success of Emperor penguins by using time-lapse video observations
relayed to scientists thousands of miles away. The new remote sensing method is
described in the May 2, 2018, issue of the Journal of Applied Physics.
"Global warming may be
cutting in on food availability for Emperor penguins," said Dan
Zitterbart, a scientist at WHOI and co-author of the study. "And if their
diets change significantly, it could have implications on the health and
longevity of these animals -- which are already expected to be highly
threatened or close to extinct by the end of this century. With this new
approach, we now have a logistically viable way to determine the foraging
success of these animals by taking images of their behavior once they return
back to the colony from their foraging trips."
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