BAS researchers uncover chinstrap penguins massive colony decline in Antarctic volcanic island
A remote volcanic island near Antarctica has lost its title of largest penguin colony in the world, as new research reveals massive population declines, igniting fears for species’ survival. Researchers from British Antarctic Survey (BAS) have uncovered the loss of over half a million chinstrap penguins from the Antarctic island of Zavodovski in the South Sandwich Islands.
A remote volcanic island near Antarctica has lost over half a million of its chinstrap penguins, sparking fears for the species' survival. British Antarctic Survey (BAS) researchers have uncovered a massive population decline of these iconic birds on Zavodovski Island in the South Sandwich Islands. The loss represents more than a quarter of the island's total penguin population, which consists almost entirely of chinstrap and macaroni penguins.
This decline has relegated Zavodovski to second place as the world's largest penguin colony, behind Cape Adare in the Ross Sea.
Initially bucking the trend of chinstrap declines across Antarctica, Zavodovski now has the highest rate of decline in the world, with data showing this pattern since 2011. The researchers, led by Professor Norman Ratcliffe, suggest climate-driven changes in the Southern Ocean, rather than the island's volcanic eruption in March 2016, are responsible for the penguin decline.
These changes have disrupted the penguins' food supply, forcing them to forage in cooler waters to the northwest of the island, where they would typically find Antarctic krill. However, as the waters warm, krill have moved southwards into the Weddell Sea, beyond the reach of the chinstraps' nesting grounds.
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