Penguins offer varied clues to Antarctic climate change | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Thursday
July 17, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • Subscribe
    • Get the Paper
    • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
THURSDAY, JULY 17, 2025
Penguins offer varied clues to Antarctic climate change

World+Biz

Reuters
01 February, 2022, 02:15 pm
Last modified: 01 February, 2022, 02:19 pm

Related News

  • August 2024 floods in Bangladesh and Tripura: A nexus of erratic rainfall, vanishing waterways, and neglect
  • How Mongla’s women are bearing the brunt of rising salinity
  • Syrian authorities evacuate citizens amid major forest fires
  • US steps out, Brazil steps in
  • ‘Unacceptable and inadequate’: Experts slam govt for allocating only 0.67% of GDP to 25 climate-related ministries

Penguins offer varied clues to Antarctic climate change

For climate researchers, nothing is easy in the remote and icy reaches of Antarctica

Reuters
01 February, 2022, 02:15 pm
Last modified: 01 February, 2022, 02:19 pm
A colony of gentoo penguins stand on Snow Island, Antarctica, January 31, 2020. Photo :Reuters
A colony of gentoo penguins stand on Snow Island, Antarctica, January 31, 2020. Photo :Reuters

Peering through binoculars from an inflatable motorboat bobbing in frigid waters, polar ecology researchers Michael Wethington and Alex Borowicz scan a rocky outcrop on Antarctica's Andersson Island for splatterings of red-brown guano that might signal a colony of penguins nearby.

The birds have become far more than an iconic symbol of the earth's frozen south. Scientists now use them as key indicators for understanding climate change near the South Pole – with certain western regions like the Antarctic Peninsula having undergone rapid warming, while East Antarctica remains cold and capped in ice.

"We are counting penguin nests to understand how many penguins are in a colony, producing chicks every year, and whether that number is going up or down with the environmental conditions," said Borowicz, of Stony Brook University in New York.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

For climate researchers, nothing is easy in the remote and icy reaches of Antarctica. But penguins are easier to track than other species because they nest on land and their black feathers and their waste can be spotted against the white expanse.

"We can use penguins as a bioindicator to see how the rest of the ecosystem is operating," said Wethington, also of Stony Brook.

Simple counts of individual penguins alongside other methods like analyses of satellite images tell a nuanced story, with some penguins dubbed 'winners' as climate change opens new habitats, while others are forced to seek colder climes.

WAVE OF 'GENTOOFICATION'

Gentoo penguins, with bright red-orange beaks and distinctive white markings on their heads, are partial to open water without chunks of ice bobbing around.

When temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula began rising faster than almost anywhere else in the world during the latter half of the 20th century, gentoo populations expanded southwards in what some scientists call the "gentoofication" of Antarctica.

"Gentoo penguins don't like sea ice," said David Ainley, a biologist with the ecological consulting firm H.T. Harvey & Associates who has been studying penguins for more than 50 years. "They mostly forage over the continental shelf and don't go far out to sea."

As sea ice has decreased along the western side of the peninsula, gentoos have taken advantage of the hospitable conditions. But the same conditions have been worse for tuxedo-wearing Adelies, who rely on sea ice for breeding and feeding.

"When we find Adelie penguins, we typically know that sea ice is nearby," Wethington said. "And whenever we've seen sea ice declining or disappearing altogether, then we're seeing corresponding Adelie penguin populations decline substantially."

Though widespread Adelie penguins are increasing in number overall, some populations have fallen by more than 65 percent.

'SAFE SPACE'

On their January expedition to the region, the Stony Brook scientists found that Adelie colonies around the still-icy Weddell Sea had remained stable during the past decade.

"This peninsula is maybe a safe space as we see climate change progressing and overall warming throughout the globe," Wethington said.

Heather Lynch, an ecologist at Stony Brook University who helped lead the expedition aboard the MV Arctic Sunrise, said the findings highlighted the region's conservation value.

In 2020, a team from the British Antarctic Survey discovered 11 new emperor penguin colonies from satellite images, boosting known emperor penguin colonies by 20 percent.

But since 2016 nearly every chick has perished in the Halley Bay colony along the far eastern side of the Weddell Sea, which has long been home to the world's second largest emperor penguin colony, with some 25,000 breeding pairs gathering every year.

Scientists suspect the 2016 El Niño event changed the sea ice dynamic in the area, and worry for the penguins as climate change increases the frequency and severity of El Niño events.

While the chicks' deaths were not a direct result of climate change, "there is a climate change aspect to the loss," said Peter Fretwell, a geographic information scientist at the British Antarctic Survey.

Top News

Penguin / Antarctica / climate change

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • National Citizen Party (NCP) Convenor Nahid Islam speaks at a press conference in Khulna on 16 July 2025. Photo: TBS
    Gopalganj attack: Nahid demands arrest of culprits within 24 hours
  • Photo: TBS
    Gopalganj under heavy security as tension persists amid curfew
  • The supporters of local Awami League and Chhatra League locked in a clash with police following attacks on NCP convoy this afternoon (16 July). Photo: Collected
    Gopalganj under curfew tonight; 4 killed as banned AL, police clash after attack on NCP leaders

MOST VIEWED

  • 131 foreigners were denied entry into Malaysia by their border control. Photo: The Star
    96 Bangladeshis denied entry at Kuala Lumpur airport
  • Double-decker school buses are lined up in a field in Chattogram city. The district administration has proposed modernising the buses to ensure security and convenience for school students. Photo: TBS
    Country's first smart school bus in Ctg faces shutdown amid funding crisis
  • A file photo of people boarding the government-run Betna Express at a railway station. The train operates on the Benapole-Khulna-Mongla route via Jashore. Photo: TBS
    Despite profitability, Betna Express rail service handed over to pvt sector
  • Bangladesh Bank buys $313m more in second dollar auction in three days
    Bangladesh Bank buys $313m more in second dollar auction in three days
  • Representational image. File Photo: Syed Zakir Hossain/TBS
    Malaysia grants Bangladeshi workers multiple-entry visas
  • People enter and loot Ganobhaban, the Prime Minister’s residence, following the resignation of Sheikh Hasina in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on August 5, 2024. Photo: TBS
    Govt to spend Tk111cr to turn Ganabhaban into July Mass Uprising Memorial Museum

Related News

  • August 2024 floods in Bangladesh and Tripura: A nexus of erratic rainfall, vanishing waterways, and neglect
  • How Mongla’s women are bearing the brunt of rising salinity
  • Syrian authorities evacuate citizens amid major forest fires
  • US steps out, Brazil steps in
  • ‘Unacceptable and inadequate’: Experts slam govt for allocating only 0.67% of GDP to 25 climate-related ministries

Features

Abu Sayeed spread his hands as police fired rubber bullets, leading to his tragic death. Photos: Collected

How Abu Sayed’s wings of freedom ignited the fire of July uprising

1d | Panorama
Illustration: TBS

Open source legal advice: How Facebook groups are empowering victims of land disputes

2d | Panorama
DU students at TSC around 12:45am on 15 July 2024, protesting Sheikh Hasina’s insulting remark. Photo: TBS

‘Razakar’: The butterfly effect of a word

2d | Panorama
Photo: Collected

Grooming gadgets: Where sleek tools meet effortless styles

3d | Brands

More Videos from TBS

NCP leaders safely in Khulna from Gopalganj.

NCP leaders safely in Khulna from Gopalganj.

5h | TBS Today
July 16 returns with sadness and pain

July 16 returns with sadness and pain

5h | TBS Today
China's economy not hit by Trump's tariff war

China's economy not hit by Trump's tariff war

6h | Others
News of The Day, 16 JULY 2025

News of The Day, 16 JULY 2025

8h | TBS News of the day
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net