Penguin-Krill-Ice Interactions: The Impact of Environmental Variability on Penguin Demography

在位于南极半岛乔治国王岛的金钟湾进行的长期海鸟研究记录了阿德利企鹅、巴布亚企鹅和帽带企鹅的繁殖生物学和生态学的生活史参数的年度变化。关于这些物种的20年记录，包括生存和繁殖，种群规模和繁殖成功，饮食和觅食生态，使科学家能够测试关于这些捕食者参数与南极海洋生态系统变化之间联系的关键假设。该项目将侧重于了解自然环境与企鹅种群生物学之间的联系，特别是海冰覆盖及其对作为企鹅食物来源的磷虾的影响。磷虾是南极海洋中重要的食物网物种，占了须鲸、海豹和企鹅等主要捕食者近100%的猎物。对长期数据集的分析表明，多年的严冬海冰有利于磷虾的招募，因为磷虾幼虫在海冰栖息地找到了避难所和食物。人们还观察到，常年的海冰覆盖有利于阿德利企鹅的招募，而不利于帽带企鹅的招募。这项工作包括分析饮食样本、船上磷虾取样、企鹅生存和招募研究、在繁殖季节对企鹅进行卫星跟踪以及分析卫星海冰图像。企鹅是监测该地区商业渔业活动影响的关键物种，因此本研究将为《南极海洋生物资源养护公约》提供有用的信息，该公约是南极条约系统的一部分，重点是渔业管理。

9816616 Trivelpiece Long-term seabird research conducted at Admiralty Bay, which is located on King George Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region, has documented annual variability in the life history parameters of the breeding biology and ecology of the Adelie, gentoo and chinstrap penguins. Twenty-year records acquired on these species, including survival and recruitment, population size and breeding success, and diets and foraging ecology have enabled scientists to test key hypotheses regarding the linkage between these predator parameters and variability in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. This project will focus on understanding the linkages between the physical environment and the population biology of penguins, in particular, sea ice coverage and its impact on krill availability as a food source for penguins. Krill is a key food web species in the Antarctic oceans and accounts for nearly one hundred percent of the prey eaten by dominant predators such as baleen whales, seals and penguins. Analysis of long-term data sets has suggested that years of heavy winter sea ice favor krill recruitment, as larval krill find refuge and food in the sea ice habitat. It has also been observed that years of heavy sea ice favor Adelie penguin recruitment and not that of chinstrap penguins. Aspects of the work include analysis of diet samples, shipboard krill sampling, survival and recruitment studies of penguins, satellite tracking of penguins during the breeding season, and analysis of satellite sea ice images. Penguins are the key species used to monitor the impact of commercial fisheries activities in the region, so this study will provide useful information to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which is the part of the Antarctic Treaty System which focuses on fisheries management.