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.
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. “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.”
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.
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