Long‐term patterns in ecosystem phenology near Palmer Station, Antarctica, from the perspective of the Adélie penguin

Cimino, Megan A.; Conroy, John A.; Connors, Elizabeth; Bowman, Jeff S.; Corso, Andrew D.; Ducklow, Hugh W.; Fraser, William R.; Friedlaender, Ari S.; Kim, Heather Hyewon; Larsen, Gregory D.; Moffat, Carlos; Nichols, Ross; Pallin, Logan; Patterson‐Fraser, Donna L.; Roberts, Darren M.; Roberts, M.; Steinberg, Deborah K.; Thibodeau, Patricia S.; Trinh, Rebecca; Schofield, Oscar; Stammerjohn, Sharon

doi:10.1002/ecs2.4417

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 143 publications

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“…At Béchervaise Island where the fast ice is more extensive, penguin reproductive success is reduced (Emmerson & Southwell, 2008 ) while areas with less sea ice during the breeding season have higher foraging performance and breeding success (Watanabe et al., 2020 ). Phenology is also influenced by extensive fast ice delaying nest arrival and clutch initiation (Cimino et al., 2023 ; Emmerson et al., 2011 ), as well as other environmental variables like early snowmelt correlating to an earlier clutch initiation (Lynch et al., 2009 , 2012 ). Near Palmer Station there is a negative relationship between late clutch initiation and breeding success, where sea ice and effects from precipitation and island geomorphology delayed clutch initiation (Cimino et al., 2019 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delay in Adélie penguin nest occupation restricts parental investment in nest construction and reduces reproductive output

McLatchie,

Emmerson,

Wotherspoon

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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Reproductive success is an important demographic parameter that can be driven by environmental and behavioural factors operating on various spatio‐temporal scales. As seabirds breed on land and forage in the ocean, processes occurring in both environments can influence their reproductive success. At various locations around East Antarctica, Adélie penguins' (Pygoscelis adeliae) reproductive success has been negatively linked to extensive sea‐ice. In contrast, our study site in the Windmill Islands has limited fast ice present during the breeding season, allowing us to examine drivers of reproductive success under vastly different marine environmental conditions. Here, we examined the reproductive success of 450 Adélie penguin nests over a 10‐year period using images obtained from remotely operated cameras. We analysed nest survival in relation to marine and climatic factors, environmental conditions at the camera site and immediately around the nest, and behavioural attributes reflecting parental investment and phenological timing. Our key result was a strong positive association between nest structure and chick survival, particularly when ground moisture and snow cover around the nest were high. Earlier nesting birds were more likely to build bigger nests, although it is unclear whether this is due to more time available to build nests or whether early arrival and high‐quality nests are complementary traits. This intrinsic activity is likely to become more important if future predictions of increased snowfall in this region manifest.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Delay in Adélie penguin nest occupation restricts parental investment in nest construction and reduces reproductive output

McLatchie,

Emmerson,

Wotherspoon

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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“…With a R² of 0.70, our low-resolution TDR-based model provides comparable results to other DLW calibrations based on high-resolution accelerometers on marine and terrestrial species like Adélie penguin (R² = 0.75) (Hicks et al, 2020) or little penguins (R² = 0.78) (Sutton et al, 2021) or polar bear (R² = 0.70) (Pagano and Williams, 2019). This equation could be applied to the numerous Adélie penguin long-term TDR data collected across Antarctica (Cimino et al, 2023; Lescroël et al, 2023; Riaz et al, 2020), therefore offering a great opportunity to reliably investigate regional variations in energy budgets. In line with what was previously known (Hicks et al, 2020), we showed that assigning different calibration coefficients to different behaviour enhanced predictive power of our model.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Innovative Use of Depth Data to Estimate Energy Intake and Expenditure in Adélie Penguins

Dupuis,

Kato,

Hicks

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Energy governs species’ life histories and pace of living, requiring individuals to make trade-offs. However, measuring energetic parameters in the wild is challenging, often resulting in data collected from heterogeneous sources. This complicates comprehensive analysis and hampers transferability within and across case studies. We present a novel framework, combining information obtained from eco-physiology and bio-logging techniques, to estimate both energy expended and acquired on 48 Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) during the chick-rearing stage.We employ the machine learning algorithm random forest (RF) to predict accelerometry-estimated foraging behaviour using depth data (our proxy for energy acquisition). We also build a time-activity model calibrated with doubly labelled water data to estimate energy expenditure.Using depth-derived time spent diving and amount of vertical movement in the sub-surface phase, we accurately predict energy expenditure (R² = 0.70). Movement metrics derived from depth data modelled with the RF algorithm were able to accurately (accuracy = 0.82) detect the same foraging behaviour predicted from accelerometry. The RF more accurately predicted accelerometry-estimated time spent foraging (R² = 0.81) compared to historical proxies like number of undulations (R² = 0.51) or dive bottom duration (R² = 0.31).The proposed framework is accurate, reliable and simple to implement, enabling to couple energy intake and expenditure, which is crucial to further assess individual trade-offs. We provide universal guidelines for predicting these parameters based on widely used bio-logging technology in marine species. Our work allows us to revisit historical data, to study how long-term environmental changes affect animals’ energetics.Summary statementUsing machine learning, we estimated energy expenditure and foraging activity of free-ranging Adélie penguins using depth data recorded with bio-logging devices.

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“…The main factors accepted to affect krill populations that could have cascading effects in chinstrap penguin abundance are the changes on sea ice cover caused by climate change 4 , 5 , 14 , the increased competition for krill caused by the recovery of whale populations and the growth of krill-trawling fisheries 15 – 18 . A recent publication 19 also showed that the joint effects of sea ice, storms and cloudy conditions affect the phenology of low and mid trophic levels of marine ecosystems in the Antarctic Peninsula, therefore having a bottom-up effect over top-predators, particularly, causing a mismatch between the peak food availability and penguins’ breeding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting environmental conditions precluded lower availability of Antarctic krill affecting breeding chinstrap penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula

Salmerón

Belle

Cruz

et al. 2023

Sci Rep

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Dramatic decreases of chinstrap penguin populations across the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) are thought to be influenced by climate-driven changes affecting its main prey, the Antarctic krill, however, empirical evidence supporting such hypotheses are scarce. By coupling data on breeding chinstrap penguins, environmental remote sensing and estimates of krill acoustic density, we were able to demonstrate that penguins substantially increased their foraging effort in a year of low krill availability, with consequent reduction in breeding success. A winter of low sea ice cover followed by a summer/spring with stronger wind and lower marine productivity explained the lower and deeper krill availability. Our results highlight the importance of environmental variability on penguin populations, as variability is expected to increase under climate change, affecting foraging behaviour responses.

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Long‐term patterns in ecosystem phenology near Palmer Station, Antarctica, from the perspective of the Adélie penguin

Cited by 5 publications

References 143 publications

Delay in Adélie penguin nest occupation restricts parental investment in nest construction and reduces reproductive output

Delay in Adélie penguin nest occupation restricts parental investment in nest construction and reduces reproductive output

Innovative Use of Depth Data to Estimate Energy Intake and Expenditure in Adélie Penguins

Contrasting environmental conditions precluded lower availability of Antarctic krill affecting breeding chinstrap penguins in the Antarctic Peninsula

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