tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6222450261816494352024-03-19T03:03:36.547-07:00PenguinologyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger666125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-1847995956471639272017-04-21T16:21:00.000-07:002017-04-21T16:21:22.988-07:00Time-lapse cameras provide a unique peek at penguins' winter behavior<header class="content-head">April 19, 2017 </header> <div class="first-block">
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<a href="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/timelapsecam.jpg" title="Researchers set up time-lapse cameras to record penguin behavior during the dark Antarctic winter. Credit: T. Hart"> <img alt="Time-lapse cameras provide a unique peek at penguins' winter behavior" height="384" src="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/csz/news/800/2017/timelapsecam.jpg" width="640" /> </a>
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption"> Researchers set up time-lapse cameras to record penguin behavior during the dark Antarctic winter. Credit: T. Hart </figcaption></figure>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.<br />
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<section class="article-banner first-banner"> </section> 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.<br />
<br />
The researchers deployed the cameras at seven sites including Argentina, Antarctica, and several islands. Each <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/camera/" rel="tag">camera</a> took eight to fourteen photos per day, and volunteer "citizen scientists" were recruited to count the penguins in each image via a website (penguinwatch.org). Overall, the seven sites fell into three distinct groups in terms of winter attendance, each with its own patterns of site occupation. These findings could have important implications for understanding how localized disturbances due to climate change and fisheries activity affect penguin populations during the nonbreeding season.<br />
<figure class="image-block"> <div class="image-block-ins">
<a href="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/1-timelapsecam.jpg" title="Time-lapse cameras recorded images of Gentoo Penguins at their breeding sites in winter. Credit: T. Hart"> <img alt="Time-lapse cameras provide a unique peek at penguins' winter behavior" height="384" src="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/csz/news/800/2017/1-timelapsecam.jpg" width="640" /> </a>
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption"> Time-lapse cameras recorded images of Gentoo Penguins at their breeding sites in winter. Credit: T. Hart </figcaption></figure>"Working with cameras allows us to understand half of this species' life without having to spend the harsh winter in Antarctica. It has been exciting to discover more about why Gentoos are present year-round at breeding sites without having to handle a single bird," says Black. "I believe the applications for this technology are far-reaching for colonial seabirds and mammals, and we are only just beginning to discover the uses of time-lapse cameras as deployed virtual ecologists in field studies."<br />
<br />
"What most seabirds do away from their nest is often anybody's guess. For Antarctic birds, this is compounded by the long periods of darkness that penguins and others must face in the winter," adds Mark Hauber, Editor-in-Chief of <i>The Auk: Ornithological Advances</i> and Professor of Animal Behavior at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. "This new research in <i>The Auk: Ornithological Advances</i> on Gentoo Penguins colonies reveals critical year-to-year differences in where the birds are when they are not nesting: In some years, only the most temperate sites are visited, and in other years both southerly and northerly locations are busy with penguins."<br />
<br />
<div class="news-relevant" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage">
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-04-time-lapse-cameras-unique-peek-penguins.html#" id="inl-rel-href"><img alt="" class="toolsicon ic-rel" height="16" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/1x1.gif" width="14" /></a> <b>Explore further:</b> <a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-02-reveals-penguins.html" itemprop="relatedLink">New study reveals what penguins eat</a></div>
<div class="news-relevant" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage">
</div>
<b>More information:</b> "Peeking into the bleak midwinter: Investigating nonbreeding strategies of Gentoo Penguins using a camera network" April 19, 2017, <a href="http://americanornithologypubs.org/doi/full/10.1642/AUK-16-69.1" target="_blank">americanornithologypubs.org/doi/full/10.1642/AUK-16-69.1</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-04-time-lapse-cameras-unique-peek-penguins.html" target="_blank">source</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-33737560813106261432017-04-16T11:54:00.005-07:002017-04-16T11:54:59.038-07:00Antarctic penguin colony repeatedly decimated by volcanic eruptions<header class="content-head">April 11, 2017
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<a href="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/58ecec02b21e5.jpeg" title="Gentoo penguins climbing slopes to the nesting colony on Ardley Island. Credit: Stephen Roberts">
<img alt="Antarctic penguin colony repeatedly decimated by volcanic eruptions" height="384" src="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/csz/news/800/2017/58ecec02b21e5.jpeg" width="640" />
</a>
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption">
Gentoo penguins climbing slopes to the nesting colony on Ardley Island. Credit: Stephen Roberts
</figcaption></figure>One of the largest colonies of gentoo
penguins in Antarctica was decimated by volcanic eruptions several times
during the last 7,000 years according to a new study. An international
team of researchers, led by British Antarctic Survey (BAS), studied
ancient penguin guano and found the colony came close to extinction
several times due to ash fall from the nearby Deception Island volcano.
Their results are published this week in <i>Nature Communications</i>.<br />
</div>
<section class="article-banner first-banner">
</section> Ardley
Island, near the Antarctic Peninsula, is currently home to a population
of around 5,000 pairs of gentoo penguins. Using new chemical analyses of
penguin guano extracted in sediment cores from a lake on the island,
the researchers unraveled the history of the penguin colony. Climate
conditions around Ardley Island have been generally favourable for
penguins over the last 7,000 years and the team had expected the local
population to show minor fluctuations in response to changes in climate
or sea ice. The surprising result was that the nearby Deception Island
volcano had a far greater impact than originally anticipated.<br />
<br />
Lead author Dr Steve Roberts from BAS says: "When we first examined the <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/sediment+cores/" rel="tag">sediment cores</a>
we were struck by the intense smell of the guano in some layers and we
could also clearly see the volcanic ash layers from nearby Deception
Island. By measuring the sediment chemistry, we were able to estimate
the population numbers throughout the period and see how penguins were
affected by the eruptions. On at least three occasions during the past
7,000 years, the penguin population was similar in magnitude to today,
but was almost completely wiped out locally after each of three large <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/volcanic+eruptions/" rel="tag">volcanic eruptions</a>. It took, on average, between 400 and 800 years for it to re-establish itself sustainably."<br />
<br />
<figure class="image-block">
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<a href="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/gfx/news/hires/2017/58ecec13523b4.jpg" title="Volcanic ash layers in lake sediment cores extracted from Kiteschee Lake on Fildes Peninsula. The ash layers shown are associated with comparatively small eruptions from Deception Island in the last c. 2000-3000 years. The largest eruptions preserved in our lake sediment records from Fildes Peninsula and Ardley Island occurred at c. 7,000 years ago and c. 5,500-4,500 years ago and deposited over a metre of airfall and reworked ash in some lake sediment cores. Credit: Stephen Roberts and Emma Pearson.">
<img alt="Antarctic penguin colony repeatedly decimated by volcanic eruptions" height="384" src="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/csz/news/800/2017/58ecec13523b4.jpg" width="640" />
</a>
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption">
Volcanic ash layers in lake sediment cores extracted from
Kiteschee Lake on Fildes Peninsula. The ash layers shown are associated
with comparatively small eruptions from Deception Island in the last c.
2000-3000 years. The largest eruptions …<a class="caption-expand" href="https://phys.org/news/2017-04-antarctic-penguin-colony-repeatedly-decimated.html">more</a></figcaption></figure>Dr
Claire Waluda, penguin ecologist from BAS says: "This study reveals the
severe impact volcanic eruptions can have on penguins, and just how
difficult it can be for a colony to fully recover. An eruption can bury
penguin chicks in abrasive and toxic ash, and whilst the adults can swim
away, the chicks may be too young to survive in the freezing waters.
Suitable nesting sites can also be buried, and may remain uninhabitable
for hundreds of years."<br />
<br />
The techniques developed in this study will help scientists to
reconstruct past changes in colony size and potentially predict how
other penguin populations may be affected elsewhere. For example, the
chinstrap penguins on Zavodovski Island, which were disturbed by
eruptions from the Mt Curry volcano in 2016.<br />
<br />
Waluda continues: "Changes in <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/penguin+populations/" rel="tag">penguin populations</a>
on the Antarctic Peninsula have been linked to climate variability and
sea-ice changes, but the potentially devastating long-term impact of
volcanic activity has not previously been considered."<br />
<br />
<div class="news-relevant" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage">
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-04-antarctic-penguin-colony-repeatedly-decimated.html#" id="inl-rel-href"><img alt="" class="toolsicon ic-rel" height="16" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/1x1.gif" width="14" /></a>
<b>Explore further:</b>
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-02-reveals-penguins.html" itemprop="relatedLink">New study reveals what penguins eat</a>
</div>
<b>More information:</b>
Past penguin colony responses to explosive volcanism on the Antarctic Peninsula, <i>Nature Communications</i> (2017). <a href="http://nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms14914" target="_blank">nature.com/articles/doi:10.1038/ncomms14914</a>
<br />
<br />
<div class="post-copyright">
<b>Journal reference:</b>
<a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/journals/nature-communications/" rel="news">Nature Communications</a>
<a class="extra" href="https://phys.org/journals/nature-communications/" rel="news"><img alt="search and more info" class="toolsicon isrc" height="25" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/img-dot.gif" title="search and more info" width="25" /></a>
<a class="extra" href="http://www.nature.com/ncomms/index.html" target="_blank"><img alt="website" class="toolsicon iwbs" height="25" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/img-dot.gif" title="website" width="25" /></a>
<br />
<b>Provided by:</b>
<a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/partners/british-antarctic-survey/" rel="news">British Antarctic Survey</a><br />
<br />
<a class="extra" href="https://phys.org/partners/british-antarctic-survey/" rel="news" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="search and more info" class="toolsicon isrc" height="25" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/img-dot.gif" title="search and more info" width="25" /></a><a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-04-antarctic-penguin-colony-repeatedly-decimated.html" target="_blank">Source</a>
<a class="extra" href="http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/" target="_blank"><img alt="website" class="toolsicon iwbs" height="25" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/img-dot.gif" title="website" width="25" /></a>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-27321895648216538152017-02-24T14:59:00.000-08:002017-02-24T14:59:59.853-08:00The oldest fossilized giant penguin<b>Penguins diversified earlier than previously assumed </b>
<dl class="dl-horizontal dl-custom">
<dt>Date:</dt>
<dd id="date_posted">February 23, 2017</dd>
<dt>Source:</dt>
<dd id="source">Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum</dd>
<dt>Summary:</dt>
<dd id="abstract">A recently discovered fossil of a giant penguin with a body length of around 150 centimeters has been described in a new article. The new find dates back to the Paleocene era and, with an age of approximately 61 million years, counts among the oldest penguin fossils in the world. The bones differ significantly from those of other discoveries of the same age and indicate that the diversity of Paleocene penguins was higher than previously assumed. The team of scientists, therefore postulates that the evolution of penguins started much earlier than previously thought, probably already during the age of dinosaurs. </dd></dl>
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<img alt="" class="img-responsive center-block" data-target="#myModal" data-toggle="modal" height="" src="https://images.sciencedaily.com/2017/02/170223102022_1_540x360.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="" /></div>
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The foot bones of the new giant penguin (left), compared to those of an Emperor Penguin, the largest living penguin species (right).</div>
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<em>Credit: © Senckenberg</em></div>
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<div class="lead" id="first">
Together with colleagues from New Zealand, Senckenberg scientist Dr. Gerald Mayr described a recently discovered fossil of a giant penguin with a body length of around 150 centimeters. The new find dates back to the Paleocene era and, with an age of approx. 61 million years, counts among the oldest penguin fossils in the world. The bones differ significantly from those of other discoveries of the same age and indicate that the diversity of Paleocene penguins was higher than previously assumed. In their study, published in the Springer scientific journal <em>The Science of Nature</em>, the team of scientists, therefore postulates that the evolution of penguins started much earlier than previously thought, probably already during the age of dinosaurs.</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
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The fossil sites along the Waipara River in New Zealand's Canterbury region are well known for their avian fossils, which were embedded in marine sand a mere 4 million years after the dinosaurs became extinct. "Among the finds from these sites, the skeletons of Waimanu, the oldest known penguin to date, are of particular importance," explains Dr. Gerald Mayr of the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt.<br />
<br />
Together with colleagues from the Canterbury Museum in New Zealand, Mayr now described a newly discovered penguin fossil from the famous fossil site. "What sets this fossil apart are the obvious differences compared to the previously known penguin remains from this period of geological history," explains the ornithologist from Frankfurt, and he continues, "The leg bones we examined show that during its lifetime, the newly described penguin was significantly larger than its already described relatives. Moreover, it belongs to a species that is more closely related to penguins from later time periods."<br />
<br />
According to the researchers, the newly described penguin lived about 61 million years ago and reached a body length of approx. 150 centimeters -- making it almost as big as <em>Anthropornis nordenskjoeld</em>i, the largest known fossil penguin, which lived in Antarctica around 45 to 33 million years ago, thus being much younger in geological terms. "This shows that penguins reached an enormous size quite early in their evolutionary history, around 60 million years ago," adds Mayr.<br />
<br />
In addition, the team of scientists from New Zealand and Germany assumes that the newly discovered penguin species also differed from their more primitive relatives in the genus Waimanu in their mode of locomotion: The large penguins presumably already moved with the upright, waddling gait characteristic for today's penguins.<br />
<br />
"The discoveries show that penguin diversity in the early Paleocene was clearly higher than we previously assumed," says Mayr, and he adds, "In turn, this diversity indicates that the first representatives of penguins already arose during the age of dinosaurs, more than 65 million years ago."<br />
</div>
<hr />
<div id="story_source">
<strong>Story Source:</strong><br />
<a href="http://www.alphagalileo.org/ViewItem.aspx?ItemId=172816&CultureCode=en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.senckenberg.de/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum</strong></a>. <em>Note: Content may be edited for style and length.</em><br />
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<hr />
<div id="journal_references">
<strong>Journal Reference</strong>:<br />
<ol class="journal">
<li>Gerald Mayr, Vanesa L. De Pietri, R. Paul Scofield. <strong>A new fossil from the mid-Paleocene of New Zealand reveals an unexpected diversity of world’s oldest penguins</strong>. <em>The Science of Nature</em>, 2017; 104 (3-4) DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00114-017-1441-0" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">10.1007/s00114-017-1441-0</a>
</li>
</ol>
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</div>
<br /><div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla" role="tabpanel">
Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum. "The oldest fossilized giant penguin: Penguins diversified earlier than previously assumed." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 23 February 2017. <<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170223102022.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/02/170223102022.htm</a>>.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-25964443946450545442017-02-21T14:30:00.001-08:002017-02-21T14:30:10.374-08:00Penguin fossil calls Waikato Museum home<div class="story_content_top mbm cf">
<span content="Mon Feb 20 23:18:14 UTC 2017" itemprop="datePublished">February 21 2017</span><div class="story__byline-wrapper story__byline-wrapper__social cf">
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<img alt="A 28 million-year-old penguin fossil has officially become part of the museum's permanent collection." class="photoborder" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/h/d/8/3/6/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1hcj9h.png/1487632694713.jpg" title="" />
<div class="photocredit">
<span class="photocredittext">CHRISTINE CORNEGE FAIRFAX NZ</span></div>
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A 28 million-year-old penguin fossil has officially become part of the museum's permanent collection.<br />
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It's 28 million years old, weighed as much as Stephen Donald, and was the about the same height as Prince.<br />
And it calls the Waikato Museum home.<br />
A local penguin fossil, found by Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club in 2006 has officially become part of the museum's permanent collection.<br />
<br />
<div class="landscapephoto" id="89636659">
<img alt="The Kawhia giant penguin was discovered by a group of young explorers from the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club in 2007." class="photoborder" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/h/d/8/3/7/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.1hcj9h.png/1487632694713.jpg" title="" />
<div class="photocredit">
<span class="photocredittext">CHRISTINE CORNEGE FAIRFAX NZ</span></div>
<div class="photocredit">
<span class="photocredittext"> </span>
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<div class="photocaption">
The Kawhia giant penguin was discovered by a group of young explorers from the Hamilton Junior Naturalist Club in 2007.<br />
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The bones, preserved in Mudstone, have pride of place in a glass cabinet near the entrance. The bones were found in Kawhia.<br />
Although the fossil has been at the museum for the past several years there was a process to get it officially part of the museum's permanent collection.<br />
<br />
<div class="portraitphoto" id="89636667">
<img alt="A painting of the Kawhia giant penguin by Ronald Cometti." class="photoborder" src="https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/h/d/8/3/f/image.related.StuffPortrait.238x286.1hcj9h.png/1487632694713.jpg" title="" />
<div class="photocredit">
<span class="photocredittext">Simon Cometti and Amanda Wilson</span>
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A painting of the Kawhia giant penguin by Ronald Cometti.<br />
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And it appears to be a hit with most of the visitors.<br />
Sydney man John Toohey was fascinated by the fossil during his visit.<br />
"It's good for a fossil to see other fossils," he joked.<br />
The penguin - which scientists believed weighed about 100kg, and was 1.5m tall- was comparatively a lot larger than modern day penguins.<br />
An Emperor penguin weighs 30kg and was 1.15m tall - both lighter and shorter than it's ancient ancestor.<br />
"I really like seeing how things develop and the synergies of other forms of life, the science of continuity and how things have developed over time," Toohey said.<br />
Though the fossil did not fare as well under his partner's gaze.<br />
"There's only so much information I can hold in my brain at a time, and fossils don't fit," Robyn Alexander said.<br />
"I'm just going to have to say sorry to my granddaughter because I can't tell her about the penguin fossil when I get home."<br />
But Alexander did sing the praises of another famous New Zealand penguin - Dunedin's Yellow Eyed Penguin.<br />
She saw a cluster of the birds huddling together, the eyes were the most amazing things she had ever seen, Alexander said.<br />
"Now that sort of penguin I have space for in my brain."<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/news/89604485/Penguin-fossil-calls-Waikato-Museum-home" target="_blank">source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-51830523578425692202017-02-17T16:10:00.003-08:002017-02-17T16:10:37.049-08:00New guidance on hand-rearing decisions for endangered penguin chicks<div class="container-news-pics">
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Penguin chicks <span class="image-credit">Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds</span></div>
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<img alt="" src="http://bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/news/2017/february/penguin-chicks-2-article.jpg" height="333" width="500" />
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Penguin chick being checked over <span class="image-credit">Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds</span></div>
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<span class="press-release">Press release issued: </span> 17 February 2017<br />
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<div class="news-description">
The first model of its kind which provides guidance on the survival likelihood of abandoned penguin chicks admitted to rehabilitation has been developed by researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Exeter, Cape Town, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB) and Bristol Zoological Society.<br />
</div>
<div class="news-articleBody">
Globally the use of rehabilitation for conservation is growing, with many research papers monitoring the success of individuals post-release. Rearing chicks that are unlikely to survive naturally has the potential to significantly contribute to the conservation of threatened bird species, such as the African penguin.<br />
<br />
Annually, abandoned African penguin chicks are hand-reared by SANCCOB and released back into the wild. The chicks are abandoned if the adults start to moult before the chick fledges.<br />
Once an adult begins to moult it is no longer waterproof, so can no longer feed its chick. A scarcity of prey leads to slow growth rates and can cause chicks not to fledge in time. Abandoned chicks would not survive without intervention.<br />
<br />
This 'chick bolstering project' is an important conservation action for these endangered birds. It aims to bolster the African penguin population while methods to establish new colonies near high prey abundance are developed.<br />
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Decisions of whether and when to remove animals from the wild rarely use quantitative criteria. Where such criteria are assessed, there have been few studies to investigate their efficacy to predict rehabilitation outcomes.<br />
<br />
In this new study, published today in Animal Conservation, researchers investigate whether a body condition index (mass correcting for structural size), other structural measurements and sex can predict rehabilitation outcome.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/people/joanne-m-morten/index.html">Joanne Morten</a> from the University of Bristol's <a href="http://www.bristol.ac.uk/biology/">School of Biological Sciences</a>, was lead author of the research.<br />
<br />
She said: "Using data from over 1,400 chicks rescued over six breeding seasons, we identified clear body condition thresholds that colony managers can use to prioritise the removal of chicks.<br />
"These thresholds also allow the rehabilitators to rapidly identify individuals in need of critical attention."<br />
<br />
African penguin colony managers are currently using the body condition index to guide removal. This study demonstrates its effectiveness, with only 2.3 percent of chicks admitted with a body condition index so low there was a less than 50 percent chance of survival.<br />
<br />
Joanne added: "However, almost a third of chicks admitted may well have survived naturally. Hand-reared African penguin chicks are just as successful as their naturally-reared counterparts, but we don’t want to cause undue stress and use resources unnecessarily. The body condition thresholds identified in this study can be used to guide future management strategies, and can be rapidly incorporated.<br />
<br />
"The body condition index uses mass and bill length, two measurements that are easy and quick, minimising handling stress.<br />
<br />
"This is an extremely useful guide which, when used in conjunction with nest monitoring, can effectively identify chicks that have been abandoned. This tool could be useful, not just to the endangered African penguin, but other species where chicks can be successfully hand-reared."</div>
<h2>
Further information</h2>
<b>Paper: </b><br />
‘Body condition as a quantitative tool to guide hand-rearing decisions in an endangered seabird’ by J.M. Morten, N.J. Parsons, C. Schwitzer, M.W. Holderied and R.B. Sherley in <i>Animal Conservation</i>.<br />
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<a href="http://bristol.ac.uk/news/2017/february/penguin-chicks-.html" target="_blank">source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-46506704056783867522017-02-16T16:46:00.005-08:002017-02-16T16:46:43.621-08:00New study reveals what penguins eat<header class="content-head">February 15, 2017 </header> <div class="first-block">
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<img alt="New study reveals what penguins eat" src="https://3c1703fe8d.site.internapcdn.net/newman/csz/news/800/2017/newstudyreve.jpg" />
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption"> Gentoo penguin chicks at Bird Island. Credit: British Antarctic Survey </figcaption></figure>The longest and most comprehensive study to date of what penguins eat is published this month. The study, published in the journal <i>Marine Biology</i>, examines the diets of gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) at Bird Island, South Georgia over a 22 year period and is part of a project investigating the Southern Ocean ecosystem and its response to change.<br />
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<section class="article-banner first-banner"> </section> Penguin parents forage at sea returning to feed their chicks every day. The team, based at British Antarctic Survey (BAS), found that between 1989 and 2010 gentoo penguins ate approximately equal amounts of crustaceans, (mainly Antarctic <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/krill/" rel="tag">krill</a>, a small shrimp-like creature) and fish.<br />
<br />
Twenty-six different prey species were found in the diet, including squid, octopus and 17 species of fish. The composition of gentoo penguin diets was variable from year to year, with krill the dominant food in 10 years of the study and fish in 12 years. Successful breeding (the number of chicks fledged per nest per year) was strongly related to the amount of krill in the diet, with few chicks fledging in years where krill was particularly scarce.<br />
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The team then compared the diets of gentoo penguins with those of <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/macaroni+penguins/" rel="tag">macaroni penguins</a> (Eudyptes chrysolphus) also resident at Bird Island. Both species are able to switch to other prey when krill availability is low. However, where gentoo penguins have a broad and variable diet, macaroni penguins are specialist predators on krill. Their differing diets and foraging ranges allow the two penguin species to successfully coexist at Bird Island, South Georgia.<br />
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption"> The team at BAS studied gentoo colonies on Bird Island over a 22 year period. Credit: British Antarctic Survey </figcaption></figure>Lead author, Dr Claire Waluda, penguin ecologist at BAS says:<br />
"Gentoo and macaroni penguins are important indicator species and monitoring changes in their diets can help us understand changes in the Southern Ocean ecosystem."<br />
<br />
"This work highlights the importance of long-term data collection and supports the work of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which is responsible for setting catch limits for commercial krill and fish in the Southern Ocean. Their aim is to protect marine ecosystems and maintain sustainable levels of fishing in this region."<br />
<br />
The paper summarises one of the longest time series of penguin diet currently available globally. Long-term variability in the diet and reproductive performance of <a class="textTag" href="https://phys.org/tags/penguins/" rel="tag">penguins</a> at Bird Island, South Georgia by Claire M. Waluda, Simeon L. Hill, Helen J. Peat and Philip N. Trathan is published this month in the journal <i>Marine Biology</i>.<br />
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<div class="news-relevant" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage">
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-02-reveals-penguins.html#" id="inl-rel-href"><img alt="" class="toolsicon ic-rel" height="16" src="https://cf3e497594.site.internapcdn.net/tmpl/v5/img/1x1.gif" width="14" /></a> </div>
<div class="news-relevant" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage">
<b>Explore further:</b> <a href="https://phys.org/news/2016-10-fortunes-signy-penguins.html" itemprop="relatedLink">Study shows mixed fortunes for Signy penguins</a></div>
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<b>More information:</b> Claire M. Waluda et al. Long-term variability in the diet and reproductive performance of penguins at Bird Island, South Georgia, <i>Marine Biology</i> (2017). <a data-doi="1" href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00227-016-3067-8" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1007/s00227-016-3067-8</a><br />
<br />
<a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-02-reveals-penguins.html" target="_blank">source</a> <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-29321250288741243782017-01-20T10:00:00.000-08:002017-01-20T10:00:10.824-08:00Penguins Can’t Taste The Umami Flavor Of Fish<header class="entry-header"><div class="entry-info">
<span class="entry-author">By Futurity</span> <span class="entry-date">on <time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-01-19T15:34:46-0500">January 19, 2017 </time></span><div class="entry-meta">
<span class="entry-date"><time class="entry-date" datetime="2017-01-19T15:34:46-0500"> </time></span></div>
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Penguins haven’t been able to taste sweet, bitter, and umami flavors for more than 20 million years.<br />
Because penguins are fish-eaters, the loss of the umami taste is especially perplexing, says study leader Jianzhi “George” Zhang, a professor in University of Michigan’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology.<br />
<blockquote>
“These findings are surprising and puzzling, and we do not have a good explanation for them.”</blockquote>
“Penguins eat fish, so you would guess that they need the umami receptor genes, but for some reason they don’t have them,” he says. “These findings are surprising and puzzling, and we do not have a good explanation for them. But we have a few ideas.”<br />
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_1895502" style="width: 770px;"><a href="http://www.valuewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Penguins.jpg"><img alt="Penguins" class="size-large wp-image-1895502" height="419" src="http://www.valuewalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Penguins-1024x673.jpg" width="640" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">By Image ID: corp2417, NOAA Corps CollectionPhotographer: Giuseppe ZibordiCredit: Michael </figcaption><figcaption class="wp-caption-text">Van Woert, NOAA NESDIS, ORA [Public domain], <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AKaiserpinguine_mit_Jungen.jpg" rel="nofollow">via Wikimedia Commons</a></figcaption></figure><h5 style="text-align: center;">
Penguins</h5>
Zhang suspects the sensory changes are tied to ancient climate-cooling events in Antarctica, where penguins originated. His leading hypothesis is that the genes were lost after cold Antarctic temperatures interfered with taste perception.<br />
<br />
A paper on the topic appears in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215000573" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><em>Current Biology</em></a>. The first author, Huabin Zhao, was a postdoctoral researcher under Zhang when most of the study took place.<br />
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Vertebrates typically possess five basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (savory, meaty). Over the past 15 years, remarkable progress in understanding the molecular basis of taste has opened the door to inferring taste abilities from genetic data through the examination of taste receptor genes.<br />
<br />
Compared with mammals, birds are thought to be poor tasters, due in part to the observations that they have fewer taste buds on their tongues and lack teeth for chewing food. Previous genetic studies showed that the sweet taste receptor gene is absent from the genomes of all birds examined to date.<br />
<h3>
Missing taste genes</h3>
Zhang says an email from colleagues at BGI, a genomics institute in China, prompted the study. Researchers there had sequenced genomes from Adelie and emperor penguins and could not find some of the taste genes. They wanted Zhang to help determine whether the absent genes were the result of incomplete sequencing or a true evolutionary deletion.<br />
<br />
Zhang and his colleagues took a closer look at the Adelie and emperor data. In addition, they analyzed bird tissue samples (chinstrap, rockhopper, and king penguins, plus eight other closely related non-penguin bird species). They also reviewed publicly available genomes for 14 other non-penguin bird species.<br />
<br />
They found that all five penguin species lack functional genes for the receptors of sweet, umami, and bitter tastes. In the Adelie and emperor genomes, the umami and bitter taste receptor genes have become “pseudogenes,” genetic sequences resembling a gene but lacking the ability to encode proteins. Pseudogenes often result from the accumulation of multiple mutations over time.<br />
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The genomes of all non-penguin birds studied—including egrets, finches, flycatchers, parrots, macaws, falcons, chickens, and mallards—contain the genes for the umami and bitter tastes but, as expected, lack receptors for the sweet taste. The researchers concluded that all penguins have lost three of the five vertebrate senses.<br />
<br />
“Taken together, our results strongly suggest that the umami and bitter tastes were lost in the common ancestor of all penguins, whereas the sweet taste was lost earlier,” the authors write.<br />
<h3>
A dramatic cold snap</h3>
Penguins originated in Antarctica after their separation from tubenose seabirds around 60 million years ago, and the major penguin groups separated from one another about 23 million years ago. The taste loss likely occurred during that 37-million-year span, which included periods of dramatic climate cooling in Antarctica, Zhang says.<br />
<br />
His leading suspect is the protein Trpm5, which is required for the transduction of sweet, umami, and bitter taste signals to the nervous system in all vertebrates. Previous studies on mice showed that Trpm5 does not function well at cold temperatures.<br />
<br />
“This give us a hint, perhaps, that this loss of taste genes has something to do with the inability of this protein to work at lower temperatures,” says Zhang, whose former postdoc, Zhao, is planning follow-up experiments to see how well Trpm5 functions at the temperature of seawater used by Antarctic penguins.<br />
<br />
In mice, the protein Trpm5 is also involved in insulin secretion and the detection of pheromones. If the same is true in penguins, then Trpm5 is essentially being asked to work simultaneously at a warm body temperature and at the frigid ambient temperature, which may not be possible. When such a dilemma arises, the more important function is retained by natural selection, while the less important one is sacrificed, Zhang says.<br />
<br />
Vertebrate tastes are mediated by taste receptors usually located in taste buds found on the upper surface of the tongue and elsewhere in the mouth. The human tongue has several thousand taste buds.<br />
<h3>
Penguin tongues</h3>
A 1998 anatomical study of four penguin species found no taste buds in their tongues, strongly suggesting a reduction in taste function. The same study found that penguin tongues possess only a single type of lingual papillae, the raised protrusions that hold most of the taste buds in humans, which have four types of papillae.<br />
<br />
Penguin papillae are stiff, sharp, and covered by a thick, horny layer, suggesting that penguin tongues are used primarily for catching and holding slippery fish or other prey. Those anatomical findings are in accord with the new genetic results showing a lack of receptors for three of the five vertebrate tastes in penguins.<br />
<br />
But it’s not clear what came first, the anatomical adaptations or the sensory changes, Zhang says.<br />
“Their behavior of swallowing food whole, and their tongue structure and function, suggest that penguins need no taste perception, although it is unclear whether these traits are a cause or a consequence of their major taste loss,” he says.<br />
<br />
First author Zhao is now a professor at China’s Wuhan University. The other author is Jianwen Li of the China National GeneBank, BGI-Shenzhen.<br />
<br />
The US National Institutes of Health, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and Wuhan University supported the work. The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology provided tissue samples of bird species, and BGI-Shenzhen shared penguin and egret genome sequences.<br />
<br />
<em>Source: <a href="http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/22679-sweet-bitter-savory-penguins-lack-three-of-the-five-basic-tastes" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">University of Michigan</a></em></div>
<footer class="article-meta"><a class="source-link" href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960982215000573" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Original Study</a> DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2015.01.026</footer><footer class="article-meta"> </footer><footer class="article-meta"><a href="http://www.valuewalk.com/2017/01/penguins-genes/" target="_blank">source</a> </footer>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-68071502039792834832016-10-28T15:22:00.002-07:002016-10-28T15:22:40.918-07:00Huge new Antarctic marine reserve created<div class="entry_header clearfix">
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<span class="publisher">By <a class="author url fn" href="http://earthsky.org/team/deborahbyrd" rel="author" title="Posts by Deborah Byrd">Deborah Byrd</a> in </span><span class="post-category">Earth | Human World</span> <span class="divider">|</span> <strong class="publish-time" style="font-style: normal;">October 28, 2016</strong></div>
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The new Antarctic safe zone in the Ross Sea will encompass 600 thousand square miles (1.5 million square km) and be the largest marine protected area in the world.<br />
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<a href="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/penguins-ross-island-nsf-e1477648276811.jpg"><img alt="Penguins jumps onto an ice shelf after their feeding swim. Photo by Robin Waserman, National Science Foundation, via NOAA." class="size-full wp-image-250419" height="436" src="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/penguins-ross-island-nsf-e1477648276811.jpg" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Penguins jump onto an ice shelf in the Ross Sea after their feeding swim. Photo by Robin Waserman, </div>
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National Science Foundation, via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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Working from Australia, policy makers and scientists from 24 nations and the European Union unanimously agreed on Friday (October 28, 2016) to create a marine reserve, almost as large as Alaska, in the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica. The agreement will take effect on December 1, 2017 and remain in effect for at least 35 years. It will be the largest marine protected area in the world.</div>
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The new Antarctic safe zone will encompass 600 thousand square miles (1.5 million square km) of ocean. Commercial fishing will be banned from about 30 percent of the area, and 28 percent will be designated as research zones, where scientists can catch limited amounts of fish and krill, tiny invertebrates that provide food for whales, penguins, seals and other animals.</div>
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The Antarctic region in and around the Ross Sea is one of the last great ocean wilderness areas on the planet, according to <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">a NOAA webpage</a> on the need to protect this region:</div>
<blockquote>
It supports one of the most productive ecosystems in the
Southern Ocean, high biodiversity, and a unique assemblage of species
found nowhere else on Earth. It is also one of the most studied polar
regions, with some of the world’s longest time series of polar
observations.</blockquote>
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The agreement was reached at the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (<a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/" target="_blank">CCAMLR</a>), which comprises 24 countries including the United States and European Union.</div>
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<a href="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/orcas-ross-island-NSF-e1477648537514.jpg"><img alt="Orcas near Ross Island in the Ross Sea. Photo by Joe Stanford, National Science Foundation, via NOAA." class="size-full wp-image-250417" height="466" src="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/orcas-ross-island-NSF-e1477648537514.jpg" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Orcas near Ross Island in the Ross Sea. Photo by Joe Stanford, National Science Foundation, </div>
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via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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Map via the <a href="https://ocean.si.edu/slideshow/trip-south-antarctica%E2%80%99s-ross-sea" target="_blank">Smithsonian</a></div>
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CCAMLR Executive Secretary Andrew Wright said in an October 28 <a href="https://www.ccamlr.org/en/news/2016/ccamlr-create-worlds-largest-marine-protected-area" target="_blank">statement</a> that the decision has been several years in the making:</div>
<blockquote>
This has been an incredibly complex negotiation which has
required a number of Member countries bringing their hopes and concerns
to the table at six annual CCAMLR meetings as well as at intersessional
workshops.<br />
A number of details regarding the MPA are yet to be finalised but the
establishment of the protected zone is in no doubt and we are
incredibly proud to have reached this point.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/krill-nsf-e1477648396403.jpg"><img alt="Krill are the main food source for animals such as whales and penguins. Photo by Kyle Hoppe, National Science Foundation, via NOAA." class="size-full wp-image-250415" height="494" src="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/krill-nsf-e1477648396403.jpg" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
Krill are the main food source for animals such as whales and penguins. Photo by Kyle Hoppe, </div>
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National Science Foundation, via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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<a href="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/jellyfish-ross-sea-nsf-e1477648331859.jpg"><img alt="A jellyfish under Ross Sea ice. Photo by Henry Kaiser, National Science Foundation, via NOAA." class="size-full wp-image-250414" height="492" src="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/jellyfish-ross-sea-nsf-e1477648331859.jpg" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
A jellyfish under Ross Sea ice. Photo by Henry Kaiser, National Science Foundation, via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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Starfish on a yellow sponge in the Ross Sea. Photo by Steve Rupp, National Science Foundation,</div>
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via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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Evan Bloom, head of the United States delegation <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/28/world/australia/antarctica-ross-sea-marine-park.html?_r=0" target="_blank">told the New York Times</a>:</div>
<blockquote>
This is a major step in marine conservation not just for the Antarctic but internationally.<br />
Part of it is the size, but the significance of this is that most of
the marine protected area is a no-take area, and that involved 25
countries and complex, long-term environmental negotiations. It is one
of the biggest steps for the international community.</blockquote>
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<a href="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/leopard-seal-ross-island-nsf-e1477648545320.jpg"><img alt="A leopard sea in Antarctica. Photo by Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation, via NOAA." class="size-full wp-image-250416" height="460" src="http://en.es-static.us/upl/2016/10/leopard-seal-ross-island-nsf-e1477648545320.jpg" width="640" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
A leopard sea on Ross Island. Photo by Peter Rejcek, National Science Foundation, via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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Emperor penguins and their chicks on Ross Island. Photo by Paul Ponganis, National Science </div>
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Foundation, via <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ia/slider_stories/2013/07/ross_sea/ross_sea.html" target="_blank">NOAA</a>.</div>
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Bottom line: Policy makers and scientists unanimously agreed on Friday (October 28, 2016) to create a marine reserve – the largest marine protected area in the world – in the Ross Sea off the coast of Antarctica.</div>
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<a href="http://earthsky.org/earth/huge-marine-reserve-created-off-antarctica" target="_blank">source</a> </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-64097411699093808552016-10-15T14:44:00.002-07:002016-10-15T14:44:47.784-07:00Future of Antarctic marine protected areas at riskDate:
<dl class="dl-horizontal dl-custom"><dd id="date_posted">October 13, 2016</dd>
<dt>Source:</dt>
<dd id="source">Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences</dd>
<dt>Summary:</dt>
<dd id="abstract">Antarctica's surrounding waters are home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems on Earth and support thriving populations of krill, seabirds, fish and whales. But efforts to establish a network of effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean are being hobbled by political infighting and demands that prioritize fishing interests over conservation by members of the international consortium tasked with conserving the region, scientists say. </dd></dl>
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Antarctica's surrounding waters are home to some of the healthiest marine ecosystems on Earth and support thriving populations of krill, seabirds, fish and whales. But efforts to establish a network of effective Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean are being hobbled by political infighting and demands that prioritize fishing interests over conservation by members of the international consortium tasked with conserving the region, Stanford scientists say.</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
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The findings, published Oct. 14 in <em>Science</em>, come as 24 countries and the European Union convene in Hobart, Australia, next week for the annual meeting of the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), to resume negotiations of Southern Ocean MPAs.<br />
"Our research shows that CCAMLR's positions for and against MPAs have become entrenched," said lead author Cassandra Brooks, a PhD candidate at Stanford School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "Negotiations have become entangled with larger global geopolitics and we see an emerging scramble for marine resources in this remote frontier."<br />
<br />
The authors argue that as a leader in international fisheries management, CCAMLR has the opportunity to set an example for ongoing negotiations at the United Nations level to develop a legal instrument for conserving biodiversity in international waters, also known as the high seas. But if CCAMLR continues to fall short in its duties, it could set a sorry example with ramifications for marine protection in other parts of the world, said study coauthor Kristina Gjerde, senior high seas advisor at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and adjunct professor at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey California.<br />
<br />
"It would send the message that fishing interests trump conservation, despite the global interests at stake," Gjerde said. "It could raise doubts that nations will be able to set aside short-term national interests to confront global ocean challenges stemming from accelerating climate change. And finally, it is doubtful that these diminished sites would count toward global goals for MPAs as they would not meet the IUCN MPA criteria."<br />
<br />
<strong>Reverse burden of proof</strong><br />
<br />
Despite more than a decade of international negotiations informed by robust scientific planning, CCAMLR has failed to meet its goal of adopting a system of MPAs in the Southern Ocean to conserve biodiversity in the face of threats from climate change and potential overfishing, the authors say.<br />
<br />
A major obstacle is agreement about the concept of "rational use," which sets the terms under which CCAMLR's member nations are allowed to fish in the Southern Ocean. The region contains some of Earth's least exploited fish stocks, and its large populations of krill -- small crustaceans that are food for the region's fish, seabirds and whales -- and toothfish have made it an increasingly prized fishing spot. Krill is valuable as fishmeal and for making health supplements, and toothfish are sold as lucrative "Chilean sea bass" around the world.<br />
<br />
As originally defined, rational use required that fishing not cause irreversible damage to the greater marine ecosystems of the Southern Ocean and for precautionary catch limits and scientific oversight to be set in place. But as the number of CCAMLR's fishing nations has grown, and as pressure increases to secure access to current and future resources in the Southern Ocean, some nations are pushing to equate rational use with the unfettered right to fish.<br />
<br />
Countries such as China and Russia have argued against MPA proposals that in any way restrict fishing and demand sufficient evidence to show that fishing threatens ecosystems. "MPA opponents want to reverse the burden of proof," said co-author Larry Crowder, science director of the Center for Ocean Solutions in Monterey, California, and a fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment. "When rational use was first negotiated, the whole idea was that you needed data in order to fish. Now, it's being interpreted by some fishing nations as unequivocal fishing."<br />
<br />
<strong>Sunset clauses</strong><br />
<br />
Sunset clauses on the MPAs are another source of fierce debate. MPAs are usually established in perpetuity, but some CCAMLR member nations are advocating that Southern Ocean MPAs have built-in expiration dates ranging from 20 to 30 years. "Twenty years is shorter than the lifespan of most Antarctic predators which the MPAs are proposing to protect," Brooks said. But not only are sunset clauses inconsistent with the stated goals of MPAs, they do not meet internationally established criteria for protected areas and may not qualify for global MPA targets, the authors warn.<br />
<br />
Broader geopolitics have also infiltrated CCAMLR negotiations, the authors say. For example, poor international relations between nations -- such as tensions between Russia and the United States over Crimea -- seem to be spilling into the negotiating room. Nations opposing MPAs are being accused of not negotiating in good faith, while proponents of MPAs are accused of using MPAs a political tool.<br />
"The result is a breakdown of trust between member nations, causing a stalemate over MPAs," Crowder said.<br />
<br />
<strong>High seas implications</strong><br />
<br />
Two large MPAs are currently being negotiated at CCAMLR: one in the East Antarctic and one in the Ross Sea -- a region that has been deemed "The Last Ocean" because it is perhaps the healthiest large marine ecosystem left on the planet.<br />
<br />
"We've seen an East Antarctic and Ross Sea MPA come to CCAMLR's decision-making table five times now without being adopted. Next week will be the sixth," Brooks said. "Each year, during the course of negotiations, the proposed MPAs in these two regions have continued to be downsized, with ecologically critical areas removed and 'research fishing zones' added."<br />
<br />
With CCAMLR meetings set to resume on Oct. 17, Brooks and her co-authors urge member nations to find a way forward in upholding their mandate and meeting their commitment toward MPAs. "The Southern Ocean is our best-case scenario," Brooks said. "If we can't figure out how to protect marine ecosystems there, it suggests it will be extremely difficult to protect them anywhere else."<br />
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</div>
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<div id="story_source">
<strong>Story Source:</strong><br />
<a href="http://news.stanford.edu/2016/10/13/future-antarctic-marine-protected-areas-risk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Materials</a> provided by <a href="https://earth.stanford.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences</strong></a>. <em>Note: Content may be edited for style and length.</em><br />
</div>
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<div id="journal_references">
<strong>Journal Reference</strong>:<br />
<ol class="journal">
<li>C. M. Brooks, L. B. Crowder, L. M. Curran, R. B. Dunbar, D. G. Ainley, K. J. Dodds, K. M. Gjerde, U. R. Sumaila. <strong>Science-based management in decline in the Southern Ocean</strong>. <em>Science</em>, 2016; 354 (6309): 185 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.aah4119" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">10.1126/science.aah4119</a>
</li>
</ol>
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Stanford's School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences. "Future of Antarctic marine protected areas at risk." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 October 2016. <<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161013153230.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161013153230.htm</a>>.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-15498862433755405922016-09-24T14:13:00.002-07:002016-09-24T14:13:54.920-07:00Bird flu poses threat to penguins <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/CD40/production/_91344525_thinkstockphotos-200362265-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/CD40/production/_91344525_thinkstockphotos-200362265-001.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="byline__name">By Helen Briggs</span>
<span class="byline__title">BBC News</span>
</div>
<ul class="mini-info-list">
<li class="mini-info-list__item"> <div class="date date--v2" data-datetime="23 September 2016" data-seconds="1474621210" data-timestamp-inserted="true">
23 September 2016</div>
</li>
</ul>
<div class="story-body__introduction">
Scientists are warning of new threats to penguins on Antarctica from diseases spread by migratory birds.</div>
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<br /></div>
A modern strain of bird flu has been found in penguins living on the snowy continent, although it does not seem to be making them ill.<br />
<br />
Conservationists say penguins need better protection through monitoring for new diseases and safeguarding their breeding and fishing grounds.<br />
<br />
Bird flu is an infectious disease of poultry and wild birds.<br />
<br />
Scientists found an unusual strain of bird flu among penguins on Antarctica a few years ago.<br />
A second strain has now been discovered, suggesting viruses are reaching the continent more often than previously thought.<br />
<h2 class="story-body__crosshead">
Fragile Earth</h2>
"This is a concern because avian influenza viruses that can be deadly in many birds have recently circulated in North America," said Dr Aeron Hurt of the Peter Doherty Institute in Melbourne, who visited the continent to survey penguins and other birds.<br />
<br />
He said the virus discovered did not seem to cause any illness in the birds, but the fact that it is down on the Antarctic Peninsula showed there was potential for deadlier viruses to also travel there.<br />
<br />
"The impact of a pathogenic influenza virus, one that causes death or severe illness in birds, would have a really devastating impact," he added.<br />
<br />
The Antarctic Peninsula is too far south to be part of the main flyways across the world for migratory birds.<br />
<br />
However, a few birds do migrate there from North and South America.<br />
<br />
Experts say a better understanding is needed of how viruses reach the continent.<br />
<h2 class="story-body__crosshead">
Unique birdlife</h2>
Rory Crawford, seabird policy officer of the RSPB, said penguins were the second most threatened group of seabirds after albatrosses, so any new potential threats were of concern.<br />
<br />
"Every effort needs to be made to prevent future transmission and its potential impacts on the unique birdlife of Antarctica," he said.<br />
<br />
"Further, broader penguin conservation needs to be stepped up to help these imperilled birds - including through the protection of breeding habitat, identification and proper protection of marine protected areas and appropriate fisheries management."<br />
<br />
Dr Derek Gatherer, of the University of Lancaster, said the findings suggested that the bird flu had originated in the northern hemisphere and entered Antarctica recently.<br />
<br />
"Penguins are therefore under threat from highly pathogenic avian flu, despite their isolation," he said.<br />
<br />
The <a class="story-body__link-external" href="http://jvi.asm.org/content/early/2016/08/11/JVI.01404-16.abstract">research</a> was published in the Journal of Virology.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-37440164" target="_blank">source</a> Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-81354832522641211932016-09-24T14:10:00.000-07:002016-09-24T14:10:14.303-07:00How natural selection acted on one penguin species over the past quarter century<div class="date">
September 23, 2016</div>
<div class="author-info">
James Urton<div class="author-desc">
</div>
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<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_49740" style="width: 760px;">
<a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/Banded-Bird.jpg"><img alt="A penguin in Argentina." class="size-full-content wp-image-49740" height="540" src="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/Banded-Bird-750x633.jpg" width="640" /></a>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
A Magellanic penguin at Punta Tombo, sporting a metal tag used for identification purposes.<span class="wp-media-credit"> </span></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<span class="wp-media-credit">Dee Boersma</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
Biologists of all stripes attest to evolution, but have debated its details since Darwin’s day. Since changes arise and take hold slowly over many generations, it is daunting to track this process in real time for long-lived creatures.<br />
<br />
“We know that evolution occurs — that species change,” said <a href="http://www.penguinstudies.org/" target="_blank">Dee Boersma</a>, a University of Washington professor of biology. “But to see this process in long-lived animals you have to look at generations of individuals, track how traits are inherited and detect selection at work.”<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_49755" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/Dec-2012-764_wm_red.jpg"><img alt="Magellanic penguins on the beach in Argentina." class="size-medium wp-image-49755" height="225" src="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/Dec-2012-764_wm_red-300x225.jpg" width="300" /></a>
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The scene at Punta Tombo in Dec. 2012.<span class="wp-media-credit">Dee Boersma</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
Boersma <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/02/08/uw-biology-professor-is-a-finalist-for-top-conservation-prize/" target="_blank">studies</a> one particularly intriguing long-lived species, the <a href="http://www.penguinstudies.org/magellanic-penguins/" target="_blank">Magellanic penguins</a> of South America. She has spent 34 years gathering information about their lifespan, reproduction and behavior at <a href="http://www.penguinstudies.org/argentina/" target="_blank">Punta Tombo</a>, <a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2015/12/15/uw-conservationists-celebrate-new-protected-areas-for-argentine-penguins/" target="_blank">a stretch of Argentine coast</a> that serves as their largest breeding site.<br />
<br />
Boersma and her colleagues combed through 28 years’ worth of penguin data to search for signs that natural selection — one of the main drivers of evolution — may be acting on certain penguin traits. As they report <a href="http://americanornithologypubs.org/doi/full/10.1642/AUK-16-50.1" target="_blank">in a paper published</a> Sept. 21 in The Auk: Ornithological Advances, selection is indeed at work at Punta Tombo.<br />
<br />
“This is the first decades-long study to measure selection in penguins, and only the second one for birds overall,” said lead author <a href="http://www.penguinstudies.org/laura-koehn/" target="_blank">Laura Koehn</a>, a graduate student in the UW School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences who worked with Boersma as an undergraduate.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_49750" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/P1010407_wm_red.jpg"><img alt="Penguins at their nesting sites." class="size-medium wp-image-49750" height="225" src="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/P1010407_wm_red-300x225.jpg" width="300" /></a>
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Heads held high at Punta Tombo.<span class="wp-media-credit">Dee Boersma</span></div>
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Like all penguins, the Magellanic variety are natural swimmers, where they feed on the bounty of the oceans. But once a year they return to the Argentine and Chilean coasts to mate and molt. Their “serial monogamy” — fidelity to one partner per breeding season — as well as a nagging preference to breed in the same general location each year make it possible to track individual birds over time, Koehn said. Boersma began the project, which is ongoing, in 1982.<br />
<br />
To keep track of individuals amid a colony that at its height held 500,000 birds, Boersma and her team attached unique metal bands to the flipper of each penguin they studied. Each breeding season, the scientists would search for tagged penguins that made it back to Punta Tombo, measure basic physical characteristics and tag new chicks to add to their tracking duties.<br />
<br />
“We chose characteristics that might be important to the success of individual penguins, like body size and bill depth,” said Boersma. “And once we had generations of trackable data for individuals and their descendants, we could ask: do these traits change over time?”<br />
<br />
Through natural selection, individuals with traits that allow them to adapt and thrive in their environment can pass their favorable traits to their offspring.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignleft" id="attachment_40486" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2015/12/mag-parent-2-chicks-beg-Jan07_red.jpg"><img alt="Adult Magellanic penguin and two chicks, begging for food." class="size-medium wp-image-40486" height="225" src="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2015/12/mag-parent-2-chicks-beg-Jan07_red-300x225.jpg" width="300" /></a>
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Adult Magellanic penguin and two chicks, begging for food. <span class="wp-media-credit">Dee Boersma</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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“Our question was simple: for these traits, do offspring resemble their parents?” said Koehn.<br />
By measuring an entire population — like the Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo — Boersma’s team could see if individuals with certain characteristics, for example a large body, were more successful at breeding over the years.<br />
<br />
Koehn and co-authors searched for signs of selection across 28 years of Boersma’s data.<br />
She could detect selection in seven of the 28 years for both males and females. Selection is likely acting on these traits every year, but the highly variable conditions at Punta Tombo mean that the “direction” of selection on each trait may fluctuate too much to see over just 28 years, said Boersma.<br />
<br />
As the study continues, researchers may divine signatures of natural selection over additional years.<br />
For the seven years the researchers could detect natural selection in males, there was a clear trend.<br />
<br />
Larger males held an edge in lean years when resources are fewer. In females, they detected selection acting on traits such as foot size, bill depth and body size. But unlike males, they saw no clear trend on how selection was shaping the females of the species over time.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption alignright" id="attachment_49753" style="width: 310px;">
<a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/P1020311_wm_red-600x449.jpg"><img alt="Magellanic penguins." class="size-medium wp-image-49753" height="225" src="http://www.washington.edu/news/files/2016/09/P1020311_wm_red-600x449-300x225.jpg" width="300" /></a>
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Magellanic penguins at Punta Tombo.<span class="wp-media-credit">Dee Boersma</span></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
</div>
“Those traits appear to be important for survival,” said Boersma. “But if environmental conditions change rapidly then selection also constantly changes, and it’s harder to see a clear trend over time.”<br />
<br />
This is only the second time natural selection has been observed over 20 years or more for a bird species. Evolutionary biologists <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/6/l_016_01.html" target="_blank">Peter and Rosemary Grant</a> spent more than 20 years cataloguing traits in seed-eating finches on the Galapagos island of Daphne Major. These are some of the same Galapagos finches that inspired a young Darwin to come up with his theory of evolution by natural selection in the 19<sup>th</sup> century. The Grants detected signatures of natural selection at work on this island, correlating the changes with the influence of El Niño conditions.<br />
<br />
“Now we’ve been able to track natural selection in a second bird species thanks to these decades of observations at Punta Tombo,” said Boersma.<br />
<br />
Encouraged by her team’s findings with Magellanic penguins, Boersma intends to continue collecting data — tracking traits and survival for even more generations and repeating this analysis.<br />
“This is only the beginning,” she concluded.<br />
<br />
Co-authors include Jeffrey Hard with the Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Elaine Akst with Montgomery College.<br />
<br />
The study is funded by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Pew Fellows Program in Marine Conservation, the ExxonMobil Foundation, the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund, the National Geographic Society, the Wadsworth Endowed Chair in Conservation Science at the University of Washington and Friends of the Penguins — as well as the Chase, Cunningham, CGMK, Offield, Peach, Thorne, Tortuga and Kellogg foundations.<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
###</div>
For more information, contact Koehn at 206-616-2791 or <a href="mailto:laura.koehn216@gmail.com" target="_blank">laura.koehn216@gmail.com</a>. Boersma is currently abroad and unreachable.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.washington.edu/news/2016/09/23/how-natural-selection-acted-on-one-penguin-species-over-the-past-quarter-century/" target="_blank">source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-2860139110934179512016-08-15T12:09:00.000-07:002016-08-15T12:09:17.472-07:00Incredible trek for penguins<h4>
Jamie Morton, the NZ Herald's science reporter
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<span content="2016-08-12T00:31:02Z" id="articleDate" itemprop="datePublished">Friday, 12 August 2016</span>
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<img data-img="http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201633/rockhopper_480x270.jpg" src="http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201633/rockhopper_480x270.jpg" />
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<figcaption class="caption">A rockhopper penguin on Campbell Island. Credit: David Thompson</figcaption>
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Call it a happy feat.<br />
<br />
New Zealand scientists have been astounded to find that two species of
subantarctuic penguin were able to travel 15,000km - equivalent to the
distance between Auckland and Boston - over a stretch of just six
months.<br />
<br />
The insight was revealed by a tagging project observing nearly 100
subantarctic rockhopper and Snares penguins over winter in the Southern
Ocean.<br />
<br />
"If they are constantly moving this averages out at about 100km a day
but you also have to add on to that the distances covered vertically as
the birds dive to capture food," said the study's leader, National
Institute of Water and Atmosphere seabird ecologist Dr David Thompson.<br />
<br />
While the Snares penguin population on their craggy namesake islands was
relatively stable, Campbell Island's rockhoppers had dwindled by at
least 21 per cent since 1984, leaving just over 33,000 breeding pairs
there.<br />
<br />
<figure class="inlineMedia inlineMedia-inline-image inlineMedia-left inlineMedia-width620" style="max-width: 620px;">
<img alt="Rockhopper penguins on Campbell Island. Photo: Kyle Morrison" height="320" src="http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201633/rockhopper2_620x311.jpg" style="max-width: 620px;" width="640" /><figcaption class="caption">Rockhopper penguins on Campbell Island. Photo: Kyle Morrison</figcaption></figure>
The island was once the world's largest breeding colony of the colourful
rockhoppers - the smallest of all penguin species and featured on the
movies Happy Feet and Surf's Up - but between 1942 and 1984 the
population dropped by about 94 per cent.<br />
<br />
Researchers have been trying to understand what has caused the sharp decline, with big changes in their diet a suspected cause.<br />
<br />
Thompson said the penguins' led an extreme lifestyle, taking them out into the ocean for long periods of time.<br />
<br />
"They come to land to breed and when they finish that, go back out to sea where they feed up for a month," he said.<br />
<br />
"Then they come back to land to sit and moult their feathers. During that period they don't eat at all."<br />
Having virtually starved themselves, they then headed back out to sea in poor condition.<br />
<br />
"They've grown a whole new set of feathers so their plumage is fantastic but it's quite demanding so they're really scrawny.<br />
<br />
"We think winter is pretty important and that there is almost certainly
something going on in the ocean causing the population to decline."<br />
<br />
The tags attached to the birds had to be modified from fitting the long,
skinny leg of an albatross to the short, stubby leg of a penguin.<br />
<br />
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<img alt="" height="581" src="http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201633/penguin%20graphic.jpg" style="max-width: 687px;" width="640" /></figure>
Thompson and his colleagues also had to time their arrival on Campbell
Island, 620km south of Stewart Island, with the end of the moulting
season, just as the penguins were ready to leave for the winter.<br />
<br />
Then they had to clamber down rock faces and steep cliffs to reach them.<br />
<br />
Of the 90 penguins tagged for the project, about 80 returned the
following spring when the tags were retrieved and data processing began.<br />
<br />
Tracking their movements was an eye-opening exercise.<br />
<br />
The Snares penguin headed exclusively west towards Australia, while the
rockhoppers went east and covered a wider section of the ocean.<br />
<br />
Several birds covered more than 15,000km over the winter.<br />
<br />
The tags were also able to determine when the penguins were stationary, indicating they had stopped to dive for food or rest.<br />
<br />
Thompson said this first tracking project had provided just a snapshot, but the work had to be start somewhere.<br />
<br />
He plans to repeat the project and include other species, such as the erect crested penguin of the Antipodes Islands.<br />
<br />
"The extra species will give us more information on how they relate to
each other when they go away. It may be that they use different space,
or it may be that populations of different islands get together at sea.<br />
<br />
"Research like this is important to better understand what's important
for penguins. It is possible that particular parts of the ocean may help
them get through from one year to the next so we need to be able to
identify those places."<br />
<br />
"Prior to this study we didn't have a clue where rockhoppers went in the
winter but the spaces they use in the ocean might be really important -
not only for them but for scientists to better understand what is
causing the population decline."<br />
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<a href="http://m.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11692473" target="_blank">source</a><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-46136928623914005312016-08-02T21:10:00.000-07:002016-08-02T21:10:49.014-07:00Penguin resilience to climate change investigated<br /><header class="content-head"><h5 class="data">
August 2, 2016 by Pepita Smyth</h5>
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<figcaption class="image-block-caption"> Credit: Murdoch University </figcaption></figure>New research by Murdoch University will investigate the future of Rockingham's beloved Little Penguins colony.<br />
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<section class="article-banner first-banner"> </section> Dr Belinda Cannell, who has been part of a long-term study of the birds, will spend the next three years examining their resilience to <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/tags/coastal+waters/" rel="tag">coastal waters</a> that have remained warmer than average since late 2010 .<br />
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"Little Penguins are essentially the canaries in the coal mine for the Shoalwater Marine Park," she said.<br />
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"Understanding the viability of this population of penguins will give us a good understanding of the health of the whole ecosystem."<br />
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Dr Cannell will use new information collected over the next three years, along with data she has previously collected, to improve the understanding of how Little Penguins will fare with climate change and coastal development in the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park.<br />
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She will continue to track Little Penguins at sea using satellite and GPS technology, attaching special tags to some birds to record the diving depths when travelling and foraging.<br />
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"For the first time we will gain a real understanding of the movements and activities of the penguins in the water and show locations where they may be more at risk from watercraft collisions," she said.<br />
Dr Cannell is also hoping to calculate the size of the penguin population and exactly what the penguins are eating.<br />
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"We have not done a full population count of the penguins since 2012 but other indicators have not been promising," she said.<br />
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"From 2010 to 2015 far fewer penguins were recorded using nest boxes and, not surprisingly, fewer eggs were laid. We believe this was connected to water temperatures being higher than average.<br />
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"The birds have been travelling long distances when they are relieved of incubating the eggs, some travelling down to Geographe Bay. Their foraging trips have been incredibly long, 10 days or more. This indicates food resources close to Penguin Island have been scarce."<br />
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Dr Cannell said <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/tags/water+temperatures/" rel="tag">water temperatures</a> were still warmer than normal in summer this year, but have now dropped back to normal. She is hoping to see a shift in the <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/tags/penguins/" rel="tag">penguins</a>' behaviour, indicating the coastal waters near Penguin Island are again supporting healthy baitfish stocks.<br />
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<div class="news-relevant" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/WebPage">
<a href="http://phys.org/news/2016-08-penguin-resilience-climate.html#" id="inl-rel-href"><img alt="" class="toolsicon ic-rel" height="16" src="http://cdn.phys.org/tmpl/v5/img/1x1.gif" width="14" /></a> <b>Explore further:</b> <a href="http://phys.org/news/2012-11-emperor-penguins-sea-ice-rest.html" itemprop="relatedLink">Emperor penguins use sea ice to rest between long foraging periods</a>
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<b>Provided by:</b> <a class="textTag" href="http://phys.org/partners/murdoch-university/" rel="news">Murdoch University</a> <a class="extra" href="http://phys.org/partners/murdoch-university/" rel="news"><img alt="search and more info" class="toolsicon isrc" height="25" src="http://cdn.phys.org/tmpl/v5/img/img-dot.gif" title="search and more info" width="25" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://phys.org/news/2016-08-penguin-resilience-climate.html" target="_blank">source</a> <a class="extra" href="http://www.murdoch.edu.au/" target="_blank"><img alt="website" class="toolsicon iwbs" height="25" src="http://cdn.phys.org/tmpl/v5/img/img-dot.gif" title="website" width="25" /></a>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-44038897350719871662016-07-11T14:15:00.000-07:002016-07-11T14:15:39.908-07:00Update: Climate Change May Shrink Adélie Penguin Range By End of Century<a data-bindattr-958="958" href="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/p1010860jpg.jpeg"><img alt="penguin and chicks on rocks" data-bindattr-959="959" src="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/ubernode_alt_horiz/public/thumbnails/image/p1010860jpg.jpeg?itok=IaTPdcgH" /></a>
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July 8, 2016</div>
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Climate has influenced the distribution patterns of Adélie penguins across Antarctica for millions of years. The geologic record tells us that as glaciers expanded and covered Adélie breeding habitats with ice, penguins in the region abandoned their colonies. When the glaciers melted during warming periods, the Adélie penguins were able to return to their rocky breeding grounds.<br />
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Now, a NASA-funded study by University of Delaware scientists and colleagues at other institutions reports that this warming may no longer be beneficial for Adélie penguins. In a paper published June 29 in the journal <em>Scientific Reports</em>, the researchers project that approximately 30 percent of current Adélie colonies may be in decline by 2060, and approximately 60 percent of the present population might be dwindling by 2099. They also found the penguins at more southerly sites in Antarctica may be less affected by climate change.<br />
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This graphic shows changes to the suitability of Adélie penguin breeding areas.</div>
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Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center</div>
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The study results suggest that changes in climate, particularly sustained periods of warmer than usual sea surface temperatures, are detrimental to Adélie penguins. While the specific mechanisms for this relationship remain unknown the study focuses attention on areas where climate change is likely to create a high frequency of unsuitable conditions during the 21st century.<br />
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“It is only in recent decades that we know Adélie penguins population declines are associated with warming, which suggests that many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and that further warming is no longer positive for the species,” said the paper’s lead author, Megan Cimino, who earned her doctoral degree at University of Delaware in May and is now a postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Institute of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.<br />
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The Adélie penguin is a species that breeds across the entire Antarctic continent. The penguins are experiencing population declines along the West Antarctic Peninsula, which is one of the most rapidly warming places on Earth. Conversely, Adélie populations in other areas of Antarctica where the climate is stable or even cooling remain steady or are increasing.<br />
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The researchers’ objective was to understand the effects of climate change on Antarctic Adélie penguin colonies. The study, funded through the NASA Biodiversity program, used satellite data and global climate model projections to understand current and future population trends on a continental scale. They analyzed satellite observations from 1981 to 2010 of sea ice concentration and bare rock locations, as penguins need ice- and snow-free terrain with pebbles to make their nests. The scientists also took into account data from previous studies that had used satellite imagery to detect the presence or absence of penguin populations. Finally, the team also analyzed sea surface temperature data, which, together with bare rock and sea ice, was used as an indicator of the quality of penguins’ nesting habitats.<br />
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“From other studies that used actual ground counts -- people going and physically counting penguins -- and from high-resolution satellite imagery, we have global estimates of Adélie penguin breeding locations, meaning where they are present and where they are absent, throughout the entire Southern Ocean. We also have estimates of population size and how their populations have changed over last few decades,” said Cimino. “We used all these data to run habitat suitability models.”<br />
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“When we combined this data with satellite information and future climate projections of sea surface temperature and sea ice, we can look at past and future changes in Adélie penguin habitat suitability,” Cimino said. "Satellite data allowed me to look at all Adélie penguin habitats throughout the entire Southern Ocean and over multiple decades, which otherwise would not be possible using data solely collected on land or by ship."<br />
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By analyzing past satellite observations, the researchers examined the number of years from 1981 to 2010 that had novel or unusual climate —when sea surface or ice temperatures deviated from average— during the Adélie penguin chick-rearing period and then used an ensemble of global climate models to make predictions about Adélie penguin habitat suitability from 2011 to 2099. The team validated the models with documented population trends.<br />
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<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/colonystatus_mdl_2099_1041.png"><img alt="space perspective of Antarctica with data overlay" height="426" src="http://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/colonystatus_mdl_2099_1041.png?itok=UoCGh6-E" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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This graphic shows changes to the status of Adélie penguin colonies.</div>
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Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center</div>
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According to Cimino, the southern regions of the West Antarctic Peninsula, associated islands and northern regions of the Peninsula, which are already experiencing population declines, are projected to experience the greatest frequency of unusual climate this century due to warm sea surface temperatures. This suggests that warm sea surface temperatures may cause a decrease in the suitability of chick-rearing habitats at northerly latitudes.<br />
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“Penguin colonies near Palmer Station on the West Antarctic Peninsula have declined by at least 80 percent since the 1970s,” Cimino said. “Within this region we saw the most novel climate years compared to the rest of the continent. This means the most years with warmer than normal sea surface temperature. These two things seem to be happening in the West Antarctic Peninsula at a higher rate than in other areas during the same time period.”<br />
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By contrast, the study also suggests several refugia—areas of relatively unaltered climate—may exist in continental Antarctica beyond 2099, which would buffer a species-wide decline. Understanding how these refugia operate is critical to understanding the future of this species.<br />
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“The Cape Adare region of the Ross Sea is home to the earliest known penguin occupation and has the largest known Adélie penguin rookery in the world,” Cimino said. “Though the climate there is expected to warm a bit, it looks like it could be a refugia in the future, and if you look back over geologic time it was likely a refuge in the past,”<br />
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The researchers reported that climate change impacts on penguins in the Antarctic will likely be highly site-specific based on regional climate trends, and that a southward contraction in the range of Adélie penguins is likely over the next century.<br />
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“Studies like this are important because they focus our attention on areas where a species is most vulnerable to change,” concluded Cimino. “The results can have implications for other species that live in the area and for other ecosystem processes.”<br />
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<strong>Karen B. Roberts (University of Delaware)</strong><br /><strong>adapted by Maria-Jose Viñas, NASA’s Earth Science News Team</strong></div>
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Last Updated: July 8, 2016</div>
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Editor: Karl Hille</div>
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<a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/climate-change-may-shrink-adelie-penguin-range-by-end-of-century" target="_blank">source</a> </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-66969251569969128742016-07-08T06:34:00.003-07:002016-07-08T06:34:47.571-07:00Penguins on world’s smelliest island in danger as volcano erupts, covering them in ash<br /><div class="hero-area-wrapper">
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<span class="byline__author-name" content="Sarah Knapton" itemprop="name"> Sarah Knapton, </span> <span class="byline__author-role" itemprop="jobTitle">Science Editor </span>
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<span class="article-date component "> <span class="component-content"> <time class="article-date-published" datetime="2016-07-06T13:40+0100" itemprop="datePublished">6 July 2016 </time></span></span></footer><footer class="footer-author"><span class="article-date component "><span class="component-content"><time class="article-date-published" datetime="2016-07-06T13:40+0100" itemprop="datePublished"> </time> </span> </span> </footer>
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<span class="m_first-letter">P</span>enguins on a remote British island are in danger of being wiped out after a volcano erupted, showering them in ash.<br />
The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has warned that 1.3 million birds on Zavodovski Island are threatened by the natural disaster, which has covered the island in toxic smoke and sent ash raining down over half the landmass.<br />
The island, which is part of the British Overseas Territory of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthpicturegalleries/8925753/King-penguins-of-South-Georgia.html">South Georgia</a> & the South Sandwich Islands in the southern Atlantic Ocean, is home to more than one million chinstrap <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthnews/3318079/Penguins-now-threatened-by-global-warming.html">penguins</a>, the largest colony in the world, as well as 180,000 macaroni penguins, notable for the yellow plume on their heads.<br />
Conservationists are concerned because the chinstrap penguins are moulting, shedding their old feathers for new, which means they cannot leave the island to find safety. During moulting, penguins lose their insulation and waterproofing so they have to stay out of the water.<br />
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<span class="m_first-letter">T</span>he BAS is planning an expedition later in the year to check on how the ash has affected the colony.<br />
“As the images were captured during the moult period for the chinstraps, the consequences could be very significant,” said Mike Dunn, a penguin ecologist from BAS.<br />
“When the penguins return to breed later in the year, it will be interesting to see what impact this event has on their numbers.”<br />
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<figure> <span class="article-body-image-image-container" data-frz-parent="" data-frz-ratio="1.60" style="background-image: url("http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/102572664-large_trans++kxlF6ulUWb-FmSbfhALQUFX6buClMwDsD0ucstyp0NA.jpg");"> <img alt="A group of chinstrap penguins " class="article-body-image-image" data-frz-ratio="1.60" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="199" itemprop="image" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/102572664-large_trans++kxlF6ulUWb-FmSbfhALQUFX6buClMwDsD0ucstyp0NA.jpg" width="319" /> </span> <figcaption> <span class="article-body-image-caption" itemprop="caption">The chinstrap penguins cannot leave the island because they are moulting</span> <span class="article-body-image-copyright" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> <span class="article-body-image-copyright-label">Credit:</span> Alamy </span> </figcaption> </figure>
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<span class="m_first-letter">Z</span>avodovski Island is the most northerly of the South Sandwich Islands, a remote uninhabited archipelago of islands in the Sub Antarctic.<br />
The island is known as the smelliest place on Earth because of the sulphuric air that emanates from the volcano. It has features including Stench Point, Acrid Point, Pungent Point, Reek Point and Noxious Bluff.<br />
It is the first time that Zavodovski Island has been witnessed erupting, although there is evidence that it erupted in the 1970s, possibly in the 1980s and as late as 2012.<br />
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<figure> <span class="article-body-image-image-container" data-frz-parent="" data-frz-ratio="1.00" style="background-image: url("http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/4bccd38c-e791-4586-90f7-d5d2db0fca4a-large_trans++9k_NRcUxd_vb3GsOEtUiIke2feBgKGEnMkrvBk8X43w.jpg");"> <img alt="A satellite image of Zavodovski Island " class="article-body-image-image" data-frz-ratio="1.00" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="319" itemprop="image" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/4bccd38c-e791-4586-90f7-d5d2db0fca4a-large_trans++9k_NRcUxd_vb3GsOEtUiIke2feBgKGEnMkrvBk8X43w.jpg" width="320" /> </span> <figcaption> <span class="article-body-image-caption" itemprop="caption">The eruption has covered half the island in ash</span> <span class="article-body-image-copyright" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> <span class="article-body-image-copyright-label">Credit:</span> Peter Fretwell, British Antarctic Survey </span> </figcaption> </figure>
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<span class="m_first-letter">P</span>hotos taken by fishing boats in the area show the main volcanic vent is on the western side of the island, but the prevailing wind is blowing the smoke and ash to the east, and depositing much of it on the lower slopes of the volcano where the chinstraps live in great numbers.<br />
Mount Curry on Zavodovski Island first began erupting in March and grew more active following a 7.2 magnitude earthquake last month. Satellite imagery has confirmed that a second volcano, Mount Sourabaya on Bristol Island to the south, is also now erupting.<br />
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<figure> <span class="article-body-image-image-container" data-frz-parent="" data-frz-ratio="1.00" style="background-image: url("http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/102572662_EBK5RW_bearded_penguin_chinstrap_penguin_Pygoscelis_antarctica_Pygoscelis_antarcticus_Chin-large_trans++ZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RURf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpg");"> <img alt="A chinstrap penguin " class="article-body-image-image" data-frz-ratio="1.00" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="320" itemprop="image" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/102572662_EBK5RW_bearded_penguin_chinstrap_penguin_Pygoscelis_antarctica_Pygoscelis_antarcticus_Chin-large_trans++ZgEkZX3M936N5BQK4Va8RURf_Wk3V23H2268P_XkPxc.jpg" width="320" /> </span> <figcaption> <span class="article-body-image-caption" itemprop="caption">The island is is home to more than one million chinstrap penguins</span> <span class="article-body-image-copyright" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> <span class="article-body-image-copyright-label">Credit:</span> Alamy </span> </figcaption> </figure>
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<span class="m_first-letter">D</span>r Peter Fretwell, a geographer from BAS who was involved in the remapping of the archipelago, said: “We don’t know what impact the ash will have on the penguins. If it has been heavy and widespread it may have a serious effect on the population.<br />
“It’s impossible to say, but two scientific expeditions are scheduled to visit the region from later this year and will try to assess the impact of the eruption.”<br />
Chinstrap penguins are one of the brush-tailed penguin species common around the Antarctic Peninsula and Scotia Sea. The <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/earthpicturegalleries/8209278/Penguins-in-Antarctica-and-South-Georgia-photographed-by-Nick-Garbutt.html">penguins </a>are named after the distinctive strap under their beaks. Their bodies are around 70cm long and stand around 50cm high. Zavodovski Island is one of the world’s largest colonies of penguins.<br />
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<figure> <span class="article-body-image-image-container" data-frz-parent="" data-frz-ratio="0.63" style="background-image: url("http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/penguin1-xlarge_trans++lICCrqpqBXeeiDzFnh4JCBTEH5qRvDzx2sYmxcyot7w.jpg");"> <img alt="A chinstrap penguin moulting " class="article-body-image-image" data-frz-ratio="0.63" data-lazy-loaded="true" height="304" itemprop="image" src="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/content/dam/science/2016/07/06/penguin1-xlarge_trans++lICCrqpqBXeeiDzFnh4JCBTEH5qRvDzx2sYmxcyot7w.jpg" width="190" /> </span> <figcaption> <span class="article-body-image-caption" itemprop="caption">The island holds the largest colony of chinstrap penguins, named for the distinctive mark under their beaks </span> <span class="article-body-image-copyright" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> <span class="article-body-image-copyright-label">Credit:</span> Pete Bucktrout, British Antarctic Survey </span></figcaption><figcaption><span class="article-body-image-copyright" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> </span></figcaption><figcaption><span class="article-body-image-copyright" itemprop="copyrightHolder"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/07/06/penguins-on-worlds-smelliest-island-in-danger-as-volcano-erupts/" target="_blank">source</a> </span> </figcaption> </figure>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-17659560966056419092016-07-08T06:32:00.002-07:002016-07-08T06:32:56.995-07:00King penguins keep an ear out for predators <time datetime="1467777600">6-Jul-2016</time>
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Credit: Tessa van Walsum<br />
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Sleeping king penguins react differently to the sounds of predators than to non-predators and other sounds, when they are sleeping on the beach. Research carried out at the University of Roehampton, UK, has revealed that even asleep, these penguins can distinguish between dangerous and benign sounds.<br />
<br />
Both adult and juvenile king penguins are prey to large predators like orcas and giant petrels. Even huge non-predator elephant seals can crush penguins to death with their bulky passage. In an environment like this, king penguins who are exhausted after long diving sessions must constantly keep an ear out for incoming threats.<br />
<br />
PhD student Tessa Abigail van Walsum explains: "When we played single tones to sleeping penguins, they woke up with little reaction. However, playing them the calls of orcas or skuas caused them to wake up and flee."<br />
<br />
Penguins also had strong reactions to some non-predator sounds, reports Ms van Walsum: "The sounds of approaching elephant seals rang big alarm bells for the penguins. Interestingly too, a recording of simple white noise had an unexpectedly strong effect, likely because it sounds much like an incoming wave on the beach." Notably, playing them the sound of unfamiliar predators, such as a dog's growl, got little reaction when they awoke.<br />
<br />
The ability of these birds to respond differently upon waking up suggests that they might sleep with just one half of their brain, while keeping close watch with the other half similar to some migratory birds - essentially 'keeping an eye open'.<br />
<br />
This research helps us to understand the survival strategies of king penguins in their natural habitats. In line with this, the research group would also like to test the sleeping behaviours of these birds at sea, as Ms van Walsum explains: "Presumably, king penguins sleep at sea when they are on long diving expeditions, so it will be fascinating to discover how they stay alert in that environment."<br />
<br />
King penguin response video can be seen at the following link:<br />
<a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-07/sfeb-kpk070116.php" target="_blank">source</a><br />
<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-56065033018543126322016-07-02T13:13:00.000-07:002016-07-02T13:13:04.813-07:00Antarctica Is Warming Quickly, And That’s Bad News For Penguin Colonies<span class="byline">by Alejandro Davila Fragoso</span><div class="timestamp">
<span class="byline"><a href="https://twitter.com/intent/user?screen_name=adavilafragoso"></a></span> <span class="posted-on"><time class="published" datetime="Jun 29, 2016 4:02 pm">Jun 29, 2016 </time></span></div>
<div class="timestamp">
<span class="posted-on"><time class="published" datetime="Jun 29, 2016 4:02 pm"> </time></span>
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<img class="featured-image" height="336" src="http://cdn.thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/29125033/photo_0161811652gazqvz-1024x538.jpg" width="640" />
<div class="photo-credit">
CREDIT: Flickr/Marie and Alistair Knock</div>
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An Adelie penguin surveys the landscape from a rock slope on Petermann Island, Antarctica</div>
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About a third of Adelie penguin colonies in Antarctica could disappear in the next four decades due to human-caused global warming, a figure that could balloon to more than half by the end of the century, a new study published Wednesday found.<br />
<br />
Published in <em><a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep28785">Scientific Reports</a></em>, the study projects dramatic colony losses by 2060 as global warming affects nesting and potentially the penguins’ food supply of krill and fish. “With these numbers it’s important to note that we are talking about 30 percent of the current Adelie colonies … not the population. For example, there are about 200 Adelie colonies, but within those colonies, there [are] millions of penguins,” Megan Cimino, lead author and postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, told ThinkProgress.<br />
<br />
Characterized by a white halo around the eyes, Adelie penguins are fast-swimming predators that breed on the coasts of the southernmost continent of the planet. As of 2014 there were some 3.79 million breeding pairs of Adelie penguin, according to <a href="http://www.audubon.org/news/one-two-379-million-how-many-penguins-are-there">Audubon</a>.<br />
<br />
Like other penguin species, Adelie penguins have historically benefited from some warming, which allows better access to rock breeding grounds and the ocean for foraging. However, Cimino and colleagues at the University of Delaware report that warming benefits may have a tipping point. “It is only in recent decades that we know Adelie penguins’ population declines are associated with warming, which suggests that many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and that further warming is no longer positive for the species,” she said.<br />
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The poles are warming faster than most of the planet. For Antarctica, that means rapid ice melt at increased rates. The Antarctic Peninsula north of the continent has warmed some 2.5 degrees Celsius — 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit — since 1950, according to the <a href="https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html">National Science and Ice Data Center</a> (NSIDC). Meanwhile, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is losing mass, likely due to warmer water deep in the ocean near the coast. The NSIDC reports that some stations in East Antarctica show some cooling, but that in general Antarctica is warming up. According to a 2015 <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/03/antarctica-rapidly-losing-its-edge">study</a>, ice shelves in West Antarctica have lost some 18 percent of their volume over the last two decades.<br />
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<div class="wide-photo-box">
<a href="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/505665main_IceFigureV2.jpg"><img alt="West Antarctica is seeing dramatic ice loss particularly the Antarctic Peninsula and Pine Island regions. Ice loss culprits include the loss off buttressing ice shelves, wind, and a sub-shelf channel that allows warm water to intrude below the ice. " src="http://d35brb9zkkbdsd.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/505665main_IceFigureV2-638x398.jpg" /></a>
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West Antarctica is seeing dramatic ice loss particularly the Antarctic Peninsula and Pine Island regions. Ice loss culprits include the loss off buttressing ice shelves, wind, and a sub-shelf channel that allows warm water to intrude below the ice.</div>
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CREDIT: NASA/NSIDC</div>
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Funded through the <a href="http://cce.nasa.gov/cce/biodiversity.htm">NASA Biological Biodiversity research program</a>, the University of Delaware study is based on 30 years of satellite observations of Adelie penguin colonies. Researchers examined the number of years from 1981 through 2010 that endured unusual climate during the chick-rearing period. They then used these observations and combined them with climate models to project habitat suitability from 2011 through 2099. Cimino said scientists know sea surface temperature and sea ice concentration affect Adelie survival, but the exact dynamic of how that happens is unclear. So far it's known that climate change can affect penguins’ nesting sites and food. For example, precipitation and snowmelt can cause flooding that drowns eggs and small chicks.<br />
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According to the study, late 20th-century climate warming along the West Antarctic Peninsula coincides with Adelie population declines, while stable or cooling conditions in the rest of the continent generally cause stable or increasing populations. Indeed, population improvement has been ongoing in East Antarctica, where Adelie penguins almost doubled over the past 30 years, according to a 2015 Australian Antarctic Division <a href="http://www.antarctica.gov.au/news/2015/adelie-penguin-population-almost-doubles-in-east-antarctica">study</a>.<br />
<br />
So there is a glimmer of hope for the Adelie penguin. Since the effects of global warming will likely be site-specific, some parts of Antarctica will remain suitable for penguins, Cimino said. This means Adelie penguins might in the coming years march to these buffers zones for survival. The Capa Adare region in East Antarctica, home to the earliest known penguin colony, is one of these areas.<br />
"Though the climate there is expected to warm a bit, it looks like it could be a [refuge] in the future, and if you look back over geologic time, it was likely a refuge in the past," she said.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/06/29/3794130/antarctica-penguins-face-colony-decline/" target="_blank">source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-11367143445625850432016-06-29T15:34:00.001-07:002016-06-29T15:34:16.401-07:00Penguin population could drop 60 percent by end of the century<b>University of Delaware study shows temperature warming may have reached a tipping point </b>
<dl class="dl-horizontal dl-custom">
<dt>Date:</dt>
<dd id="date_posted">June 29, 2016</dd>
<dt>Source:</dt>
<dd id="source">University of Delaware</dd>
<dt>Summary:</dt>
<dd id="abstract">Approximately 30 percent of current Adélie penguin colonies may be in decline by 2060, researchers predict, and approximately 60 percent may be in decline by 2099. The declines are associated with warming -- many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and further warming is no longer positive for the species. </dd></dl>
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<div class="photo-caption">
University of Delaware researchers project that approximately 30 percent of current Adélie colonies may be in decline by 2060 and approximately 60 percent may be in decline by 2099. Warming in Antarctica, once beneficial to the penguins, has reached a tipping point and is causing the sharp decline.<em> Credit: University of Delaware/ Megan Cimino</em></div>
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<em> </em></div>
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<div class="lead" id="first">
Climate has influenced the distribution patterns of Adélie penguins across Antarctica for millions of years.</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
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<div id="text">
The geologic record shows that as glaciers expanded and covered Adélie breeding habitats with ice, penguin colonies were abandoned. When the glaciers melted during warming periods, this warming positively affected the Adélie penguins, allowing them to return to their rocky breeding grounds.<br />
But now, University of Delaware scientists and colleagues report that this beneficial warming may have reached its tipping point.<br />
<br />
In a paper published in <em>Scientific Reports</em>, the researchers project that approximately 30 percent of current Adélie colonies may be in decline by 2060 and approximately 60 percent may be in decline by 2099.<br />
<br />
"It is only in recent decades that we know Adélie penguins population declines are associated with warming, which suggests that many regions of Antarctica have warmed too much and that further warming is no longer positive for the species," said the paper's lead author Megan Cimino, who earned her doctoral degree at UD in May.<br />
<br />
Co-authors on the work include Matthew Oliver, principal investigator on the project and Patricia & Charles Robertson Professor of Marine Science & Policy in UD's College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment; Heather J. Lynch, assistant professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University; and Vincent S. Saba, a research fishery biologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service.<br />
<br />
<strong>Declining populations</strong><br />
<br />
The Adélie penguin is a species that breeds around the entire Antarctic continent. The species is experiencing population declines along the West Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), which is one of the most rapidly warming places on Earth, while Adélie populations in other areas around the continent where the climate is stable or even cooling remain steady or increasing.<br />
<br />
The researchers' objective was to understand the effects of climate change on Antarctic Adélie penguin colonies. The study builds on previously published work by Oliver's research team to better understand Antarctica's shifting ecosystem by tracking penguins and their habitats. The current work used satellite data and global climate model projections to understand current and future population trends on a continental scale.<br />
<br />
"Our study used massive amounts of data to run habitat suitability models. From other studies that used actual ground counts--people going and physically counting penguins-- and from high resolution satellite imagery, we have global estimates of Adélie penguin breeding locations, meaning where they are present and where they are absent, throughout the entire Southern Ocean. We also have estimates of population size and how their populations have changed over last few decades," explained Cimino, now a postdoctoral scholar at Scripps Institute of Oceanography.<br />
<br />
"When we combined this data with satellite information and future climate projections on sea surface temperature and sea ice, we can look at past and future changes in Adélie penguin habitat suitability," Cimino said.<br />
<br />
Funded through the NASA Biodiversity program, the study is based on satellite observations from 1981-2010 of sea surface temperature, sea ice and bare rock locations, and true presence-absence data of penguin population estimates from satellite imagery.<br />
<br />
In particular, the researchers examined the number of years from 1981-2010 with novel or unusual climate during the Adélie penguin chick-rearing period from past satellite observations and used an ensemble of global climate models to make predictions about Adélie penguin habitat suitability from 2011-2099. The team validated the models with documented population trends.<br />
<br />
The study results suggest that climate novelty, particularly warm sea surface temperature (SST), is detrimental to Adélie penguins. While the specific mechanisms for this relationship remain unknown, the study focuses attention on areas where climate change is likely to create a high frequency of unsuitable conditions during the 21st century.<br />
<br />
Lynch noted that "One of the key advances over the last decade is our ability to find penguin colonies from space and, nearly as important, to determine which areas of Antarctica do not support penguin colonies. Having both true presence and absence across a species' global range is unique to this system, and opens up new avenues for modeling habitat suitability."<br />
<br />
<strong>Refugia offer a glimmer of hope</strong><br />
<br />
According to Cimino, the southern WAP, associated islands and northern WAP regions, which are already experiencing population declines, are projected to experience the greatest frequency of novel climate this century due to warm SST. This suggests that warm sea surface temperatures may cause a decrease in the suitability of chick-rearing habitats at northerly latitudes.<br />
<br />
"Matt and I have worked extensively at Palmer Station and we know that penguin colonies near there have declined by at least 80 percent since the 1970s. Within this region we saw the most novel climate years compared to the rest of the continent. This means the most years with warmer than normal sea surface temperature. These two things seem to be happening in the WAP at a higher rate than in other areas during the same time period," Cimino said.<br />
<br />
By contrast, the study also suggests several refugia -- areas of relatively unaltered climate -- may exist in continental Antarctica beyond 2099, which would buffer a species-wide decline. Understanding how these refugia operate is critical to understanding the future of this species.<br />
"The Cape Adare region of the Ross Sea is home to the earliest known penguin occupation and has the largest known Adélie penguin rookery in the world. Though the climate there is expected to warm a bit, it looks like it could be a refugia in the future, and if you look back over geologic time it was likely a refuge in the past," Cimino said.<br />
<br />
The researchers reported that climate change impacts on penguins in the Antarctic will likely be highly site-specific based on regional climate trends, and that a southward contraction in the range of Adélie penguins is likely over the next century.<br />
<br />
"Studies like this are important because they focus our attention on areas where a species is most vulnerable to change," concluded Cimino. "The results can be used for management; they can have implications for other species that live in the area and for other ecosystem processes."<br />
<br />
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<div id="story_source">
<strong>Story Source:</strong><br />
The above post is reprinted from <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-06/uod-ppc062816.php" rel="nofollow">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.udel.edu/" rel="nofollow"><strong>University of Delaware</strong></a>. <em>Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.</em><br />
</div>
<hr />
<div id="journal_references">
<strong>Journal Reference</strong>:<br />
<ol class="journal">
<li>Megan A. Cimino, Heather J. Lynch, Vincent S. Saba, Matthew J. Oliver. <strong>Projected asymmetric response of Adélie penguins to Antarctic climate change</strong>. <em>Scientific Reports</em>, 2016; 6: 28785 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep28785" rel="nofollow">10.1038/srep28785</a>
</li>
</ol>
<hr />
</div>
<br /><div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla">
University of Delaware. "Penguin population could drop 60 percent by end of the century: University of Delaware study shows temperature warming may have reached a tipping point." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 June 2016. <<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629094848.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160629094848.htm</a>>.</div>
<div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla">
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-62581945208209063422016-06-29T15:14:00.000-07:002016-06-29T15:14:32.935-07:00World's first successful artificial insemination of southern rockhopper penguin<dl class="dl-horizontal dl-custom">
<dt><a href="http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/99/152699-004-BFC8038F.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="irc_mi i2hlVcI6E780-pQOPx8XEepE" height="450" src="http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/99/152699-004-BFC8038F.jpg" style="margin-top: 64px;" width="398" /></a> </dt>
<dt>Date:</dt>
<dd id="date_posted">June 28, 2016</dd>
<dt>Source:</dt>
<dd id="source">Kobe University</dd>
<dt>Summary:</dt>
<dd id="abstract">DNA tests have confirmed that one of the three
southern rockhopper penguin chicks born at Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan
between June 4 and 6 was conceived through artificial insemination. It
is the world's first successful case of a southern rockhopper penguin
being conceived through artificial insemination.
</dd></dl>
<hr class="hr-fullstory" />
<div class="lead" id="first">
DNA tests have confirmed that one of
the three southern rockhopper penguin chicks born at Osaka Aquarium
Kaiyukan between June 4 and 6 was conceived through artificial
insemination. This is the result of a project led by Kaiyukan with the
collaboration of Associate Professor KUSUNOKI Hiroshi (Kobe University
Graduate School of Agricultural Science). It is the world's first
successful case of a southern rockhopper penguin being conceived through
artificial insemination.<br />
</div>
<div id="text">
Southern rockhopper penguins are a species of birds approximately
50cm in height which inhabit southern islands near Antarctica such as
the Falkland Islands. They are on the red list of the International
Union for Conservation of Nature as a threatened species.<br />
<br />
Kaiyukan and Associate Professor Kusunoki began their joint research
in 2011, aiming to elucidate the breeding habits of southern rockhopper
penguins and develop the technology for their artificial insemination.
In spring 2015 the group obtained a fertilized egg, but the chick did
not hatch, and DNA tests determined that the unborn chick was the result
of natural reproduction.<br />
<br />
This time multiple penguins were selected for breeding, and the group
enlisted the cooperation of Tokyo Sea Life Park, where scientists had
previously succeeded in breeding species through natural reproduction.
At the end of April they obtained a healthy sperm sample from a male
penguin at Tokyo Sea Life Park and transported it to Kaiyukan without
loss of quality. At Kaiyukan they used blood tests to estimate the
laying days of three female penguins and determine the best timing for
artificial insemination.<br />
<br />
Between April 28 and May 4 the three female penguins laid five eggs
between them. These were incubated by the penguin couples for
approximately one month, and three chicks hatched between June 4 and 6.
Results of DNA tests carried out on blood samples taken from inside the
eggshells revealed that one of these chicks was conceived through
artificial insemination.<br />
</div>
<hr />
<div id="story_source">
<b>Story Source:</b><br />
The above post is reprinted from <a href="http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/NEWS/research/2016_06_28_01.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><b>Kobe University</b></a>. <i>Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.</i></div>
<hr />
<br />
<div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla" role="tabpanel">
Kobe
University. "World's first successful artificial insemination of
southern rockhopper penguin." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 28 June 2016.
<<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628072251.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160628072251.htm</a>>.<br />
<br />
iStockphoto/Thinkstock<br />
<br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-6932349651177522602016-05-23T15:07:00.002-07:002016-05-23T15:07:18.776-07:00Australia Used to be a Haven for Giant Penguins<b>A single species, the little penguin, is left on Aussie shores today
</b><figure class="article-image"><span data-alt="penguins" data-picture=""><span data-src="http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/1b/68/1b68251f-a04d-4417-aa40-e4a487602f31/little_penguin_feb09.jpg__420x240_q85_crop_upscale.jpg"></span><span data-media="(min-width: 480px)" data-src="http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/1b/68/1b68251f-a04d-4417-aa40-e4a487602f31/little_penguin_feb09.jpg__720x420_q85_crop_upscale.jpg"></span><span data-media="(min-width: 600px)" data-src="http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/1b/68/1b68251f-a04d-4417-aa40-e4a487602f31/little_penguin_feb09.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg"><img alt="penguins" height="480" src="http://thumbs.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/1b/68/1b68251f-a04d-4417-aa40-e4a487602f31/little_penguin_feb09.jpg__800x600_q85_crop.jpg" width="640" /></span></span><figcaption class="caption" style="max-width: 1200px;">
Little penguins are the only penguins now found in Australia.
<span class="credits">(via Wikicommons)</span></figcaption></figure>
<div class="article-line">
<div class="articleline">
<div class="by-line">
By
Brian Switek
</div>
<div class="edition">
<span class="pub-edition">
smithsonian.com
<br />
</span>
<time class="pub-date" itemprop="published">May 23, 2016 </time></div>
<div class="edition">
<time class="pub-date" itemprop="published"> </time></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="article-body pagination-first">
Only one species of penguin currently waddles along Australia’s
southern coast, a semiaquatic bird that is the smallest of all its
family and so tiny that it’s commonly known as the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/oceans-warm-little-penguins-are-left-hungry-180958225/" target="_blank">little or fairy penguin</a>.
But in the deep past a greater variety of much more imposing birds
populated this coast. Now, thanks to the fossil record, paleontologists
have discovered that Australia was a refuge for penguin giants.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/14-fun-facts-about-penguins-41774295/" target="_blank">Penguins</a> are pretty ancient for birds. The oldest, the genus <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waimanu" target="_blank"><em>Waimanu</em></a>
from New Zealand, evolved shortly after the mass extinction that wiped
out its non-avian dinosaur relatives about 66 million years ago. From
there, penguins proliferated throughout the southern hemisphere, but
Australia has always represented a gap in the broader pattern.<br />
<br />
“Australian fossil penguins have, until now, been left out of
discussions of global patterns of penguin evolution,” says Monash
University paleontologist <a href="https://museumvictoria.com.au/collections-research/sciences/palaeontology/people/travis-park/" target="_blank">Travis Park</a>,
“probably mostly due to the fact the fossil record is a lot more
fragmentary [there] than elsewhere.” By sorting through those pieces and
comparing them to what’s known from other places, however, Park and his
colleagues <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153915" target="_blank">have now figured out</a> Australia’s role as a holdout for some of the last of the world’s oversize penguins.<br />
<br />
Australia was not a prime center for penguin evolution, Park and his colleagues report April 26 in <em><a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0153915" target="_blank">PLOS One</a></em>.
Instead, the continent was a place where different penguin lineages
landed and then went extinct. The continent hosted an ongoing turnover
of various penguin species over the past 66 million years, including
some of the final ancient giants.<br />
<br />
The last of these giants was <em>Anthropodyptes gilli</em>, a species
known from only an upper arm bone. Because these big birds and their
giant brethren are only known from fragments, scientists can only guess
at what they may have looked like. But, Park says, based on more
complete fossils found elsewhere, the largest of these birds would have
stood somewhere between 4.2 and 4.9 feet tall. That’s a bit taller than
the tallest penguins now alive, the <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/emperor-penguin-colonies-suffer-climate-changes-180951890/" target="_blank">emperor penguins</a>.<br />
<div class="associated-container">
</div>
<figure style="width: 2362px;"><img alt="Penguin bones" height="640" src="http://public.media.smithsonianmag.com//filer/34/e8/34e8412c-8b24-40ac-9416-627270a113b8/penguin_paper_media_humerus_comparison_3.jpg" style="max-height: 2480px;" width="609" /><figcaption class="caption">
From left: the humerus of a little penguin, an emperor penguin and a giant penguin
<span class="credits">(Travis Park)</span></figcaption></figure>
All giant penguins went extinct by about 23 million years ago, Park says, except for <em>Anthropodyptes</em>,
which survived until some 18 million years ago. Whether this bird was
the descendant of earlier giants or independently gained its large size
from small ancestors isn’t clear. Either way, this bird would have been
almost tall enough to look you in the eye and was a remnant of an
earlier age of giants that had closed everywhere else.<br />
<br />
But how did Australia go from being the last refuge of huge penguins to
home to just one tiny species today? The continent’s shifting place on
the map might be the reason. The Australian and Antarctic plates <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/when-continental-drift-was-considered-pseudoscience-90353214/" target="_blank">once butted up against one another</a>.
“Since Australia split from Antarctica in the Cretaceous, it has been
slowly drifting northwards, forming the Southern Ocean” in between, Park
says. As the gap between the two continents got wider and wider, it
became more and more difficult for penguins from Antarctica—or anywhere
else—to reach Australia.<br />
<br />
“Sheer isolation,” Park says, provided prehistoric penguins a respite
and also explains why only the fairies are left to waddle across the
same beaches.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/australia-used-be-haven-giant-penguins-180959105/?no-ist" target="_blank">source</a><br />
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-42237265717329013802016-05-07T05:38:00.001-07:002016-05-07T05:38:17.681-07:00How did birds get their wings? Bacteria may provide a clue, say scientistsDate:
<dl class="dl-horizontal dl-custom"><dd id="date_posted">May 6, 2016</dd>
<dt>Source:</dt>
<dd id="source">University of Oxford</dd>
<dt>Summary:</dt>
<dd id="abstract">New research has used bacteria to show that
acquiring duplicate copies of genes can provide a 'template' allowing
organisms to evolve novel traits from redundant copies of existing
genes.
</dd></dl>
<hr class="hr-fullstory" />
<div class="hyphenate" id="story_photo">
<div class="photo-image" style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="" class="img-responsive center-block" data-target="#myModal" data-toggle="modal" height="279" src="https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/05/160506105654_1_540x360.jpg" title="Click to enlarge" width="540" /></div>
<div class="photo-caption">
The evolution of major novel
traits -- characteristics such as wings, flowers, horns or limbs -- has
long been known to play a key role in allowing organisms to exploit new
opportunities in their surroundings.</div>
<div class="photo-credit">
<em>Credit: © evegenesis / Fotolia</em></div>
<div class="photo-credit">
<em> </em></div>
</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
How did birds get their wings? Bacteria may provide a clue, say scientists.</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
<br /></div>
<div id="text">
The evolution of major novel traits -- characteristics such as wings,
flowers, horns or limbs -- has long been known to play a key role in
allowing organisms to exploit new opportunities in their surroundings.<br />
<br />
What's still up for debate, though, is how these important augmentations come about from a genetic point of view.<br />
<br />
New research from an international team of evolutionary biologists,
led by the University of Oxford, has used bacteria to show that
acquiring duplicate copies of genes can provide a 'template' allowing
organisms to develop new attributes from redundant copies of existing
genes.<br />
<br />
Gene duplication has been proposed as playing a key role in
innovation since the 1970s, but these findings add important empirical
evidence to support this theory.<br />
<br />
The study, which involved collaboration with researchers from the University of Zurich, is published in the journal <em>PLOS Genetics</em>.<br />
<br />
Professor Craig MacLean, a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow in the
Department of Zoology at Oxford University, said: 'The appearance of
novel traits, such as wings and flowers, has played a key role in the
evolution of biological diversity. However, it is usually difficult to
understand the actual genetic changes that drive these evolutionary
innovations.<br />
<br />
'We have taken advantage of a simple bacterial model system, where
bacteria evolve the ability to eat new food sources, to overcome this
obstacle.'<br />
<br />
The researchers allowed 380 populations of Pseudomonas aeruginosa
bacteria to evolve novel metabolic traits such as the ability to degrade
new sugars. This gave the researchers the opportunity to witness
evolution happening in real-time.<br />
<br />
After 30 days of evolution, they sequenced the genomes of bacteria
that had evolved novel metabolic traits. They found that mutations
mainly affected genes involved in transcription and metabolism, and that
novelty tended to evolve through mutations in pre-existing duplicated
genes in the P. aeruginosa genome.<br />
<br />
Duplication drives novelty because genetic redundancy provided by
duplication allows bacteria to evolve new metabolic functions without
compromising existing functions. These findings suggest that past
duplication events might be important for future innovations.<br />
<br />
Professor MacLean added: 'The key insight of our study is that having
redundant copies of genes provides bacteria with a template for
evolving new traits without sacrificing existing traits. In other words,
redundant genes allow bacteria to have their cake and eat it.<br />
<br />
'In higher organisms like animals and plants, duplicate genes arise
from spontaneous duplication of existing genes. In contrast, bacteria
tend to acquire duplicate genes from neighbouring bacterial cells
through horizontal gene transfer, which is the bacterial equivalent of
sex.<br />
<br />
'These findings provide important empirical evidence to support the
role of gene duplication in evolutionary innovation, and they suggest
that it may be possible to predict the ability of pathogenic bacteria to
evolve clinically important traits, such as virulence and antibiotic
resistance.'<br />
<br />
</div>
<div class="mobile-middle-rectangle">
</div>
<hr />
<div id="story_source">
<strong>Story Source:</strong><br />
The above post is reprinted from <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2016-05-06-how-did-birds-get-their-wings-bacteria-may-provide-clue-say-scientists" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.ox.ac.uk/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>University of Oxford</strong></a>. <em>Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.</em><br />
</div>
<hr />
<div id="journal_references">
<strong>Journal Reference</strong>:<br />
<ol class="journal">
<li>Macarena Toll-Riera, Alvaro San Millan, Andreas Wagner, R. Craig MacLean. <strong>The Genomic Basis of Evolutionary Innovation in Pseudomonas aeruginosa</strong>. <em>PLOS Genetics</em>, 2016; 12 (5): e1006005 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1006005" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">10.1371/journal.pgen.1006005</a>
</li>
</ol>
<hr />
</div>
<br /><div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla" role="tabpanel">
University
of Oxford. "How did birds get their wings? Bacteria may provide a clue,
say scientists." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 6 May 2016.
<<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160506105654.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/05/160506105654.htm</a>>.</div>
<div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla" role="tabpanel">
</div>
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-50631885605919302312016-04-28T06:22:00.001-07:002016-04-28T06:22:36.033-07:00Fossils may reveal 20-million-year history of penguins in Australia<div class="topmeta">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nNiZcOBKRrzPOtTQPhT0VjBfV31oM7yZPCtJ7Jb8utbEzNjSzxSdMRD7gJBEC3tFeFnkRsDmWYZzXVJujnAkZzlMttmJyUhyphenhypheno-Q_k8s53zgpRVLg_uLoT5m5x5M2T8-NmkPYTJcQowQ/s1600/Fossils+may+reveal+20-million-GeologyPage.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3nNiZcOBKRrzPOtTQPhT0VjBfV31oM7yZPCtJ7Jb8utbEzNjSzxSdMRD7gJBEC3tFeFnkRsDmWYZzXVJujnAkZzlMttmJyUhyphenhypheno-Q_k8s53zgpRVLg_uLoT5m5x5M2T8-NmkPYTJcQowQ/s1600/Fossils+may+reveal+20-million-GeologyPage.jpg" style="display: inline;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Stratigraphically
calibrated phylogeny of Sphenisciformes correlated with tectonic
movements and changing ocean circulation in the southern hemisphere
showing how: (1) the Australian taxa are dispersed across the phylogeny
temporally; (2) the Australian continent becomes progressively more
isolated from other southern continents; and (3) a strengthened ACC
(indicated by the black arrows) provides a new dispersal vector to
Australia despite the presence of a strengthening Antarctic Polar Front
(APF). The bottom palaeomaps are based on reconstructions in Lawver
& Gahagan [9]. Penguin silhouettes show overall trend for decreasing
body size in penguin evolution: Top, archaic giant stem penguin taxa;
middle medium-sized stem penguin taxa; bottom, smaller crown penguin
taxa (silhouette credit: Fir0002/Flagstaffotos (original photo), John E.
McCormack, Michael G. Harvey, Brant C. Faircloth, Nicholas G. Crawford,
Travis C. Glenn, Robb T. Brumfield & T. Michael Keesey, used under a
CC BY 3.0 Attribution Unported Licence
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/))). Palaeoceanographic
reconstructions after [9,72-74]. Palaeoceanographic abbreviations: EAC =
East Australian Current, pEAC = palaeo-East Australian Current, pRG =
palaeo-Ross Sea Gyre/Tasman Current, RG = Ross Sea Gyre. The relative
strength of the ACC and APF is shown by thickening arrows and lines
though time. Black arrow = cold currents, red arrows = warm currents.<br />Credit: Park et al.; CCAL</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Multiple dispersals of penguins reached Australia after the continent
split from Antarctica, including 'giant penguins' that may have lived
there after they went extinct elsewhere, according to a study published
April 26, 2016 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Travis Park from
Monash University, Australia, and colleagues.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://draft.blogger.com/null" name="more"></a><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
Penguin evolution in Australia following the continent's pre-historic
split from Antarctica is not well-understood, but the fossil record
shows that Australia was home to a number of penguin species.<br />
Only the
little penguin remains today, and pre-Quarternary evidence of this
species and its ancestors in Australia is lacking. To update our
understanding of Australian penguin evolutionary history, the authors of
the study analysed recently collected penguin fossils and compared them
to known species, including now-extinct 'giant penguins,' and presented
a new phylogenetic tree in the context of biogeographical events on the
Australian continent.<br />
<br />
The authors propose that Australia's unique biogeographical history
allowed for multiple dispersals of penguins to the continent during the
Cenezoic or Age of Mammals, and that ancestors of the modern little
penguins arrived in Australia with the help of a strengthened Antarctic
Circumpolar Current.<br />
<br />
While evolutionary trees are constructed as best estimates based on
sometimes-limited fossil records, the authors suggest these findings
shed new insights into the evolutionary trajectory of penguins in
Australia.<br />
<br />
<u><i>Reference:</i></u><br />
Travis Park, Erich M. G. Fitzgerald, Stephen J. Gallagher, Ellyn
Tomkins, Tony Allan. New Miocene Fossils and the History of Penguins in
Australia. PLOS ONE, 2016; 11 (4): e0153915 <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0153915" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153915</a><br />
<br />
<u><i>Note: The above post is reprinted from <a href="http://blogs.plos.org/paleocomm/2016/04/26/the-lost-history-of-australias-penguins/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.plos.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">PLOS</a>.</i></u><br />
<br />
<u><i><a href="http://www.geologypage.com/2016/04/fossils-may-reveal-20-million-year.html" target="_blank">source</a> </i></u></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-48364496630859866332016-04-22T06:23:00.004-07:002016-04-22T06:23:52.633-07:00Fossil teeth suggest that seeds saved bird ancestors from extinctionDate:
<dl class="dl-horizontal dl-custom"><dd id="date_posted">April 21, 2016</dd>
<dt>Source:</dt>
<dd id="source">Cell Press</dd>
<dt>Summary:</dt>
<dd id="abstract">When the dinosaurs became extinct, plenty of small
bird-like dinosaurs disappeared along with giants like Tyrannosaurus
and Triceratops. Why only some of them survived to become modern-day
birds remains a mystery. Now, researchers suggest that abrupt ecological
changes following a meteor impact may have been more detrimental to
carnivorous bird-like dinosaurs, and early modern birds with toothless
beaks were able to survive on seeds when other food sources declined.
</dd></dl>
<hr class="hr-fullstory" />
<div class="hyphenate" id="story_photo">
<div class="photo-image">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/04/160421133639_1_900x600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://images.sciencedaily.com/2016/04/160421133639_1_900x600.jpg" width="476" /></a></div>
<div class="photo-caption">
A number of bird-like dinosaurs
reconstructed in their environment in the Hell Creek Formation at the
end of the Cretaceous. Middle ground and background: two different
dromaeosaurid species hunting vertebrate prey (a lizard and a toothed
bird). Foreground: hypothetical toothless bird closely related to the
earliest modern birds.<em> Credit: Danielle Dufault</em></div>
<div class="photo-caption">
<em> </em></div>
<div class="photo-credit">
<em></em></div>
</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
When the dinosaurs became extinct,
plenty of small bird-like dinosaurs disappeared along with giants like
Tyrannosaurus and Triceratops. Why only some of them survived to become
modern-day birds remains a mystery. Now, researchers reporting April 21
in <em>Current Biology</em> suggest that abrupt ecological changes
following a meteor impact may have been more detrimental to carnivorous
bird-like dinosaurs, and early modern birds with toothless beaks were
able to survive on seeds when other food sources declined.</div>
<div class="lead" id="first">
<br /></div>
<div id="text">
"The small bird-like dinosaurs in the Cretaceous, the maniraptoran
dinosaurs, are not a well-understood group," says first author Derek
Larson, a paleontologist at the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum in
Alberta and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. "They're some of
the closest relatives to modern birds, and at the end of the
Cretaceous, many went extinct, including the toothed birds--but modern
crown-group birds managed to survive the extinction. The question is,
why did that difference occur when these groups were so similar?"<br />
<br />
The team of researchers, which also included David Evans of the Royal
Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto and Caleb Brown of the
Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology, began by investigating whether the
extinction at the end of the Cretaceous was an abrupt event or a
progressive decline simply capped off by the meteor impact. The fossil
record holds evidence to support both scenarios, depending on which
dinosaurs are being examined.<br />
<br />
Delving into the bird-like dinosaurs, Larson collected data
describing 3,104 fossilized teeth from four different maniraptoran
families. Some were already published, but much of the information came
from Larson's own work at the microscope, cataloging the shape and size
of each tooth.<br />
<br />
Larson and his colleagues were looking for patterns of diversity in
the teeth, which spanned 18 million years (up until the end of the
Cretaceous). If the variation between teeth decreased over time, the
team reasoned, this loss of diversity would indicate that the ecosystem
was declining and may have paralleled a long-term species loss. If the
teeth maintained their differences over time, however, that would
indicate a rich and stable ecosystem over millions of years and suggest
that these bird-like dinosaurs were abruptly killed off by an event at
the end of the Cretaceous.<br />
<br />
In the end, the tooth data favored the latter interpretation. "The
maniraptoran dinosaurs maintained a very steady level of variation
through the last 18 million years of the Cretaceous," says Larson. "They
abruptly became extinct just at the boundary."<br />
<br />
The team suspected that diet might have played a part in the survival
of the lineage that produced today's birds, and they used dietary
information and previously published group relationships from modern-day
birds to infer what their ancestors might have eaten. Working
backwards, Larson and his colleagues hypothesized that the last common
ancestor of today's birds was a toothless seed eater with a beak.<br />
<br />
Coupled with the tooth data indicating an abrupt Cretaceous
extinction, the researchers suggest that a number of the lineages giving
rise to today's birds were those able to survive on seeds after the
meteor impact. The strike would have affected sun-dependent leaf and
fruit production in plants, but hardy seeds could have been a food
source until other options became available again.<br />
<br />
"There were bird-like dinosaurs with teeth up until the end of the
Cretaceous, where they all died off very abruptly," says Larson. "Some
groups of beaked birds may have been able to survive the extinction
event because they were able to eat seeds."<br />
</div>
<div class="mobile-middle-rectangle">
<div id="adslot-mobile-middle-rectangle">
</div>
</div>
<hr />
<div id="story_source">
<strong>Story Source:</strong><br />
The above post is reprinted from <a href="http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-04/cp-fts041416.php" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">materials</a> provided by <a href="http://www.cellpress.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"><strong>Cell Press</strong></a>. <em>Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.</em><br />
</div>
<hr />
<div id="journal_references">
<strong>Journal Reference</strong>:<br />
<ol class="journal">
<li>Larson et al. <strong>Dental disparity and ecological stability in bird-like dinosaurs prior to the end-Cretaceous mass extinction</strong>. <em>Current Biology</em>, 2016 DOI: <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.039" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">10.1016/j.cub.2016.03.039</a>
</li>
</ol>
<hr />
</div>
<br /><div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla" role="tabpanel">
Cell
Press. "Fossil teeth suggest that seeds saved bird ancestors from
extinction." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 21 April 2016.
<<a href="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421133639.htm">www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160421133639.htm</a>>.</div>
<div class="tab-pane active" id="citation_mla" role="tabpanel">
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</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-45632666172911961082016-03-26T05:31:00.000-07:002016-03-26T05:31:20.372-07:00Penguin brain evolution lags behind loss of flight<h1 id="page-title">
<br /></h1>
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<aside id="author-information">
<time id="article-published" pubdate="41">Published on March 25, 2016 </time><time id="article-updated"></time>
<div id="author-name">
By Julianne Hodges</div>
<div id="author-name">
</div>
</aside>
<div id="article-body">
Until about 60 million years ago, penguins
soared above the ocean. When they lost the ability to fly, their brains
took a while to catch up.<br />
<br />
UT geological sciences graduate student James Proffitt compared 3-D
models of the inside of the earliest-known flightless penguin skull
fossil to the brain shapes of modern penguins. This fossil is about 60
million years old — this penguin was probably alive soon after all
penguins stopped flying.<br />
He expected to find that flightlessness soon affected the ancient
penguin’s brain structure, making it similar to modern penguins.
However, this ancient penguin brain was significantly different from
those of modern penguins, even though they were both flightless. These
differences suggest modern penguin brains may not have evolved until
relatively recently, according to Proffitt.<br />
<br />
“It seems like ancient penguins have a lot more in common with other
close diving relatives than they do with modern penguins,” Proffitt
said. “When flightlessness evolved, the changes in the brain that you
see in modern penguins don’t show up until much later.”<br />
<br />
Even though it couldn’t fly, this 60-million-year-old penguin’s skull
is more similar to those of present-day birds that can both dive and
fly than to modern flightless penguins. Penguin<br />
neurology took a long time to catch up to flightless behavior, according
to Paul Scofield, the senior curator of natural history at the
Canterbury Museum in New Zealand and co-author of the paper.<br />
<br />
“I think this result clarifies that the evolution of penguins was
rapid and that not all elements of the body suddenly became perfectly
adapted to diving,” Scofield said. “Other studies have shown that the
brain’s development lags behind the evolution of the body and this is
certainly the case in this species.”<br />
<br />
The evolution of bird brains is easier to study than other types of
animals because bird skulls are closely fitted to the brain. Proffitt’s
work used x-ray computed tomography, or CT scanning, to look inside the
fossilized skull and observe the shape of the brain.<br />
<br />
Chris Torres, an ecology, evolution and behavior graduate student
currently in Antarctica studying bird evolution, also uses this CT
scanning method to learn about other types of bird brains from fossils.<br />
<br />
“Odd as it may sound, we don’t need brains to study brains anymore,”
Torres said. “This has profound implications for what we can learn from
fossil record, which preserves hard structures like skulls but not soft
tissues like brains. CT has revolutionized the way we study how
bird brains evolve.”<br />
<br />
Proffit is interested in studying penguin evolution because,
according to him, they came from a larger group of birds that both fly
and swim, but have since evolved flightlessness.<br />
<br />
“They make a really great group to examine this broader evolutionary
idea of how animals respond to such a big change in ecology and what
happens to the rest of their body,” he said.<br />
<br />
There is still a lot of research that scientists need to do to
understand the relationship between behavior and brain structure,
according to Proffitt.<br />
<br />
“I think it’s a complicated question to try and disentangle how
locomotion effects neurology,” he said. “That’s more of a nuanced
scientific story that isn’t as appealing as a firm answer.”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://dailytexanonline.com/2016/03/25/penguin-brain-evolution-lags-behind-loss-of-flight" target="_blank">source</a><br />
</div>
</article>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-622245026181649435.post-60721073318938093882016-03-18T18:00:00.000-07:002016-03-18T18:00:13.629-07:00Penguin Evolution (a storyboard)<div style="text-align: center;">
<span class="storyboard-by-line">
By <a href="http://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboards/diegomurray">diegomurray</a>,
Updated <span id="prettyDateSpan">3/17/2016</span>
</span>
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<img class="" src="http://sbt.blob.core.windows.net/storyboards/diegomurray/penguin-evolution.png?utc=131027455650370000" height="403" id="storyboardImage" width="640" />
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<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b> Click on image for larger size</b></div>
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboards/diegomurray/penguin-evolution" target="_blank">source</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0