Scientists from Stony Brook University on Greenpeace’s Antarctic expedition have found that vast colonies of Ad\u00e9lie penguins in the remote Weddell Sea have remained stable in the last decade, providing vital new evidence that these areas remain a climate refuge for Ad\u00e9lie penguins, a sentinel species. <\/p>\n\n
Ad\u00e9lie colonies on Penguin Point, Devil Island and Vortex Island all have roughly similar population sizes to when they were last surveyed [1]. Live interviews from the Antarctic are available on request.<\/p>\n\n
The findings add more weight to the theory that the Weddell Sea may provide an important shelter for wildlife from the worst impacts of the climate crisis. <\/p>\n\n
The Weddell Sea is the site of a vast proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA), first proposed nearly a decade ago by the Antarctic Ocean Commission (CCAMLR), which has not been delivered. This discovery reinforces the urgent need to protect and preserve the Weddell Sea while it retains an intact and functioning ecosystem.<\/p>\n\n
Louisa Casson [2] said from on board the Arctic Sunrise in the Weddell Sea:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u201cIt is amazing to see places of the Antarctic are still sheltered from the worst impacts of the climate crisis. Governments need to protect this area now. Last year, they failed yet again to give the Weddell Sea the protection it needs – a decade on from promising to protect the Antarctic Ocean. We urge them to act before it\u2019s too late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n Dr Heather J. Lynch, Professor of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University, one of the expedition\u2019s leads, said: <\/strong><\/p>\n\n \u201cThe Weddell Sea is hardly immune from climate change, but it appears that Ad\u00e9lie penguins breeding in this area remain buffered from the worst of the threats posed to those populations declining so rapidly on the warming western side of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our understanding of the biology in this inhospitable landscape continues to grow every year, but everything we learn points towards its value for conservation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n