Studies on the population dynamics of king penguins, Aptenodytes patagonicus, a large Antarctic diving bird, have been on-going for many years. Recently, these fish-eating, top-of-the-food-chain predators have been used as indicator-species for studies on the impacts of climate change in the southern hemisphere (Croxall et al., 2002; Tynan 1998). In many respects, penguins have become “polar bear equivalents” of the Antarctic ecosystem.
Introducing their study of the subject, Saraux et al. (2011) note that “in 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change highlighted an urgent need to assess the responses of marine ecosystems to climate change. Because they lie in a high-latitude region, the Southern Ocean ecosystems are expected to be strongly affected by global warming. Using top predators of this highly productive ocean (such as penguins) as integrative indicators may help us assess the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems.
http://www.nipccreport.org/articles/2011/mar/29mar2011a6.html
Yea – some warming trend.
Still no day at the beach down there (as if that would be terrible).
Two Penguins die in the Arctic due to cold!!!!
[1959]
http://tinyurl.com/3msp2pj
Ah but the Linux Penguins will never die!!
Ah yes, PBEs. Everything should be measured in them from now on, in terms of the public relations power (which is all that matters).
How many PBEs did Gore once have? Or the hockey schtick?
“Recently, these fish-eating, top-of-the-food-chain predators”
Utter nonsense. Penguins are prey for leopard seals, which in turn are prey for sharks and
orcas.
Send a group of Polar Bears South to take care of the Penguin issue.