Emperor penguins abandon breeding grounds as ice melts around them

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https://www.science.org/content/article/emperor-penguins-abandon-breeding-grounds-ice-melts-around-them

By ERIK STOKSTAD, Science.

Excerpt: Emperor penguins need stable sea ice to reproduce and raise their chicks. But with the ocean waters warming around Antarctica, the ice is breaking up earlier and earlier in the season, causing widespread abandonment of penguin breeding colonies. The finding, reported today in Communications Earth & Environment, “is bad news,” says Annie Schmidt, a seabird ecologist at Point Blue Conservation Science who was not involved in the work. Sea ice conditions vary from year to year, and colonies have failed to breed before. But if a whole region becomes unsuitable, penguins will find it difficult to locate an alternate spot, Schmidt says....

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