Investigations of Abandoned Penguin Colonies in Antarctica

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Factors which influence the distribution and long-term success of populations in the marine ecosystem are of current interest to those studying the relationship between climate and population dynamics in Antarctica. The focus of this project is Adelie penguins and population response by this species to late Holocene climatic change. The study will integrate date from the ecological, geological and paleobiological records with satellite imagery analyses to test the hypothesis that Adelie penguins have been responding to climate change over decades to centuries in a predictable manner and that fluctuations in sea-ice extent and marine productivity are the primary parameters from which to measure these responses. Thus, past responses by penguins to climate change as indicated by the paleoecological record should reflect those observed today with regional warming over the past twenty to fifty years. The study will include field and laboratory investigations of abandoned colonies along coastal Antarctica. Excavations of field sites which are located within current population centers of Adelie penguins will be conducted in the Ross Sea Region and along the Antarctic Peninsula. The occupation history of each abandoned colony will be determined by collecting surface and subsurface bones, feathers, and eggshell fragments preserved in these sites for identification and radiocarbon analyses. Sediments sifted from each site will allow recovery of organic remains (such as squid beaks and fish otoliths) that represent the former diet of penguins. These remains can be quantified statistically to assess changes in prey consumption by penguins in relation to past episodes of climate change that are well documented for the late Pleistocene and Holocene in ice-core and marine-sediment records. The multidisciplinary approach lends strength to the approach to test hypotheses related to population distribution and climate change.