Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Biodiversity

Penguins in peril

Nature Climate Change volume 4, pages 667–668 (2014)Cite this article

Subjects

Climate-driven demographic changes could cause drastic decline in the global emperor penguin population, driving some colonies to extinction.

Few species depend on sea ice to the extent that emperor penguins do. Recent climate change, especially warming in the Antarctic, has substantially reduced seasonal sea ice concentration and duration, and these patterns are predicted to continue1,2. What might this mean for emperor penguins? In a study published in Nature Climate Change, Stéphanie Jenouvrier and colleagues3 show that the global emperor penguin population will decline drastically, and many colonies will face substantial risk of extinction by 2100.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

References

  1. Ainley, D. et al. Ecol. Monographs 80, 49–66 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Trathan, P. N., Fretwell, P. T. & Stonehouse, B. PLoS ONE 6, e14738 (2011).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Jenouvrier, S. et al. Nature Clim. Change 4, 715–718 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Jenouvrier, S. et al. Glob. Change Biol. 18, 2756–2770 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Fretwell, P. T. PLoS ONE 9, e85285 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Barbroud, C. & Weimerskirch, H. Nature 411, 183–186 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Jenouvrier, S. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 1844–1847 (2009).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hunter, C. M. et al. Ecology 91, 2883–2897 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Thomas, E. R., Dennis, P. F., Bracegirdle, T. J. & Franzke, C. Geophys. Res. Lett. 36, L20704 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Cahill, A. E. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 280, 20121890 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Moritz, C. & Agudo, R. Science 341, 504–508 (2013).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Madan K. Oli is in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA and at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zürich, Switzerland,

    Madan K. Oli

Authors
  1. Madan K. Oli
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Madan K. Oli.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Oli, M. Penguins in peril. Nature Clim Change 4, 667–668 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2328

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2328

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing