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Adélie penguins and temperature changes in Antarctica: a long‐term view
Author(s) -
MILLAR Craig D.,
SUBRAMANIAN Sankar,
HEUPINK Tim H.,
SWAMINATHAN Siva,
BARONI Carlo,
LAMBERT David M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
integrative zoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.904
H-Index - 34
ISSN - 1749-4877
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-4877.2012.00288.x
Subject(s) - ecology , pleistocene , climate change , geography , biomass (ecology) , term (time) , biology , archaeology , physics , quantum mechanics
During the summer months, Adélie penguins represent the dominant biomass of terrestrial Antarctica. Literally millions of individuals nest in ice‐free areas around the coast of the continent. Hence, these modern populations of Adélie penguins have often been championed as an ideal biological indicator of ecological and environmental changes that we currently face. In addition, Adélie penguins show an extraordinary record of sub‐fossil remains, dating back to the late Pleistocene. At this time, temperatures were much lower than now. Hence, this species offers unique long‐term information, at both the genomic and ecological levels, about how a species has responded to climate change over more than 40 000 years.