Report Says 2° C IncreaseWill Be Major Threat to Antarctic Penguins

A 2° C temperature increase, which most scientists say is inevitable this century, will have a devastating impact on Adélie and emperor penguins, the two penguin species found only in Antarctica, according to a new report. The report — commissioned by the conservation group WWF and written by leading specialists on Antarctic penguins and climate — predicts that 50 percent of emperor penguin colonies and 75 percent of Adélie colonies will suffer marked decline or will disappear if global temperatures rise by 2° C. The main reason is that the two species spend most or all of their lives on sea ice, which is already shrinking along the northern Antarctic Peninsula and is expected to decline around the continent as temperatures rise. Declining sea ice also will reduce numbers of the penguins’ main prey species, krill, whose life cycle depends on sea ice. Antarctica is home to 200,000 breeding pairs of emperor penguins and roughly 2.5 million breeding pairs of Adélies. The Adélies are already in steep decline along the rapidly warming northwestern Antarctic Peninsula.