Too much of a good thing: sea ice extent may have forced emperor penguins into refugia during the last glacial maximum

Younger, Jane L.; Clucas, Gemma V.; Kooyman, Gerald L.; Wienecke, Bárbara; Rogers, Alex D.; Trathan, Philip N.; Hart, Tom; Miller, Karen J.

doi:10.1111/gcb.12882

Cited by 39 publications

(73 citation statements)

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“…3). Given their adaptation to the cold and apparent obligate requirement to use sea ice as a breeding platform, it has been hypothesised that emperor penguins may have prospered during the LGM [56], although our genetic data indicate that past emperor penguin populations were not favoured during periods of glaciation [40]. Indeed, the N ef for emperor penguins only increased to present day values following the end of the LGM.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

“…A continent-wide genetic study of emperor penguin population structure also found that the penguins were panmictic across ca. 8,000 km of coastline [40]. Together, these studies strongly refute total philopatry among emperor penguins, and this must be taken into account in population forecasting studies for emperor penguins, which typically consider breeding colonies as isolated units [7].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Pectoral muscle biopsies were collected from 91 dead emperor penguin chicks at four colonies (Table 1; Fig. 1) between 1993 and 2013 and stored at −20 °C [40]. DNA sequences from radiocarbon dated sub-fossil remains were included in the demographic history analyses as additional calibration points for the molecular clock.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…HVR (491 base pairs (bp); GenBank accessions: KU885090 - KU885185) and CytB (1117 bp; GenBank accessions: KU885226 - KU885321) were amplified and sequenced for modern seals using primers TDKD/L15926 [43, 44] and L-CytB/H-CytB [45] (all primer sequences can be found in Additional file 1: Table S1). HVR (629 bp; GenBank accessions: KP645013-KP645015; KP644913 - KP644958; KP644787-KP644831) and CytB (995 bp; GenBank accessions: KP640871 - KP640873; KP640771 - KP640816; KP640645 - KP640689) were amplified and sequenced for modern penguins using primers F-0225/R-INR [40] and B1/B6 [46]. For the sub-fossil samples we designed novel primers (Additional file 1: Table S1) to amplify short (<150 bp) overlapping fragments in order to improve the success rate of amplification from degraded DNA.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Our estimate of tau for emperor penguins was 18 years, based on an age of first breeding of 5.5 years and an annual adult survival rate of 0.925 ([19] and references therein). Note that in our previous publication [40] we used the minimum estimate of emperor penguin generation length, 14 years [19], and have now adjusted this to the mean estimate of 18 years to be directly comparable with the Weddell seal generation length, which is also a mean estimate. It should be noted that any variance in the estimate of generation length, which is difficult to estimate accurately in the case of emperor penguins because demographic data are limited to a single site [21], will only affect the absolute values of N ef in our results and has no bearing on either the timing or magnitude of the abundance increases reported.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators

et al. 2016

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BackgroundModels that predict changes in the abundance and distribution of fauna under future climate change scenarios often assume that ecological niche and habitat availability are the major determinants of species’ responses to climate change. However, individual species may have very different capacities to adapt to environmental change, as determined by intrinsic factors such as their dispersal ability, genetic diversity, generation time and rate of evolution. These intrinsic factors are usually excluded from forecasts of species’ abundance and distribution changes. We aimed to determine the importance of these factors by comparing the impact of the most recent climate regime change, the late Pleistocene glacial-interglacial transition, on two sympatric, ice-dependent meso-predators, the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) and Weddell seal (Leptonychotes weddellii).MethodsWe reconstructed the population trend of emperor penguins and Weddell seals in East Antarctica over the past 75,000 years using mitochondrial DNA sequences and an extended Bayesian skyline plot method. We also assessed patterns of contemporary population structure and genetic diversity.ResultsDespite their overlapping distributions and shared dependence on sea ice, our genetic data revealed very different responses to climate warming between these species. The emperor penguin population grew rapidly following the glacial-interglacial transition, but the size of the Weddell seal population did not change. The expansion of emperor penguin numbers during the warm Holocene may have been facilitated by their higher dispersal ability and gene flow among colonies, and fine-scale differences in preferred foraging locations.ConclusionsThe vastly different climate change responses of two sympatric ice-dependent predators suggests that differing adaptive capacities and/or fine-scale niche differences can play a major role in species’ climate change responses, and that adaptive capacity should be considered alongside niche and distribution in future species forecasts.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12862-016-0630-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 79%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators

et al. 2016

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Ecological Insights from Ancient DNA

Brown

Blois

2016

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences

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Species have been shaped by past environmental conditions. Ancient remnants of species (bones, teeth, coprolites, pollen, shed cells, etc.) with preserved DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) can reveal responses to past environmental changes through genetic information in the form of ancient DNA. Here we review the uses of ancient DNA to gain insights into ecological and evolutionary processes by investigating: (1) how climate has affected population dynamics through time, (2) how species react differently to climate change, (3) what triggers extinction for some species, (4) the detection of genomic adaptation to the environment and (5) how ancient DNA can be used to reconstruct past environmental conditions/habitats. The details that we can glean from past responses to climate change will provide information on how we can expect species to respond to future climate change. Key Concepts Ancient DNA (aDNA) can be utilised to infer how species reacted to past ecological changes. Populations are dynamic and respond to past climate change in many ways; through population size change, altered distributions and migrations. In combination with environmental data, ancient DNA is helping to elucidate what drove some species to extinction. Species have adapted to past climates. Ancient DNA, primarily through candidate gene searches, has revealed the genes behind these adaptations. Indirect methods of sampling soil for ancient DNA has aided in reconstructing past habitats. Ancient DNA can decipher how species responded to past natural climate change. This information can be used to aid in conservation.

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Der Kaiserpinguin – ein Vogel der Superlative

Kostrzewa¹

2020

Biologie in unserer Zeit

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Zusammenfassung Nach vorsichtigen Schätzungen beherbergt das antarktische Ökosystem knapp 200 Millionen Seevögel, davon sind etwa 26 Millionen Pinguine. Kaiserpinguine machen davon nur ca. 600.000 Individuen aus. Sie gehören zu den am wenigsten untersuchten Pinguinarten, weil sie nur auf dem Antarktischen Kontinent vorgelagerten Meereis brüten. Im Winter – während Eiablage und Brutzeit – sind sie durch einen bis zu 1.000 Kilometer breiten Meereisgürtel isoliert, der nur von Polynjas unterbrochen wird, offene Stellen im Eis, die den Vögeln Zugang zum Meer ermöglichen. Erst ab Oktober kommen auch Eisbrecher wieder in die Nähe einzelner Kolonien, so dass das Studium des ganzen Jahreszyklus, ja nicht einmal des ganzen Brutzyklus, nicht ohne weiteres möglich ist. 1902 wurde überhaupt die erste Kolonie in der Ostantarktis entdeckt. Ab den 1950er Jahren kamen gut 40 weitere dazu. Der Kontinent hat sehr lange (17.968 km) und unübersichtliche Küsten. Erst durch neue Techniken der Fernerkundung konnten neue Kolonien aus dem Weltraum entdeckt werden, heute zählt man mehr als 54 und gewinnt auch einen guten Überblick über die Population. Ihre Zukunft wird stark vom Eisregime abhängen. Die Tendenz in der West‐Antarktis ist stark rückläufig. Neue Auswertungen der letzten 40 Jahre der Eisentwicklung auf Satellitenfotos bestätigen auch deutliche Rückgänge für Teile der Ost‐Antarktis [23].

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Too much of a good thing: sea ice extent may have forced emperor penguins into refugia during the last glacial maximum

Cited by 39 publications

References 86 publications

Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators

Contrasting responses to a climate regime change by sympatric, ice-dependent predators

Ecological Insights from Ancient DNA

Der Kaiserpinguin – ein Vogel der Superlative

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