Introduction of Antarctic Krill

Most of the penguins form new pair bonds each year, which means that they mate with another penguin each breeding season. There is a study that says only about 14.6% pair of penguins stay with the same mate each year. The male penguin arrives to their nest before the female penguin does. Since there are more female penguins than male penguins, there will be major competitions to get a female. To attract females, the male penguin will stand still, put their head on their chest, inhales, and give out a courtship call. They keep this position for a few seconds before moving to another position. To nest, both penguins travel to a colonial nesting area at around March or early April and lay a single egg in May or early June. The single egg weighs about 460 or 467g. Once they lay an egg, the male penguin is in charge of incubating the egg while the female penguins go back to an area to obtain food. The job of the male penguin is to keep the egg protected from any danger and they also have to keep the egg between their legs so that it can be warm. If the egg is exposed to the cold, the egg and baby penguin will die rapidly due to the severe temperature of the Antarctic. It takes about 64 days for the egg to hatch and the age of the fledging is about 150 days. Once the egg hatches, the female penguin comes back from bringing food to the nesting area. The male penguin has been fasting for

Kelp forests are seen as the ultimate ecological engineer in coastal areas. They exist in marine environments spanning in southern California, Aleutian Islands, and the western north Atlantic. Light, latitude, and water temperature and nutrients all play a role in facilitating the growth of kelp forests all around the world, (Bolton). Kelp specifically dominates the shallow rocky coasts of the world‘s cold water marine habitats. Although they look as a free-growing plant, they are in fact primarily of brown algae. These structures provide food and shelter to a huge mix of biota, including crabs, sea urchins, mollusks, and other marine organisms (Steneck). The fronds, or large leaves of the kelp are the distinctive feature that can represent where a specific kelp may be found. The sizes of these organisms can range from the smallest found near California and Alaska at 5m to giant kelp up to 45m in length found on the west coasts of North and South America (Hamilton).

Antarctica is located in the southern hemisphere of the Antarctic region or the bottom of the earth. The latitude and longitude of Antarctic is 90.0000° S, 0.0000° W. Antarctica is surrounded by the southern ocean. Antarctic is also surround by parts of the Pacific ocean, the Atlantic ocean and the Indian ocean.

Diversity in planktonic marine animals stems from a shifting balance between competition for food and avoidance of predators. As a result, a wide variety of planktonic animals inhabit the oceans. Phytoplanktons are primary producers because they use solar energy to convert CO2 and nutrients into carbohydrates and other molecules used by life. Despite limited knowledge of what small copepods eat, it is clear that many higher-trophic level consumers eat them. Numerous studies have shown that copepod nauplii and other small copepods are important prey of fish larvae, and other planktivores. Most studies of larval fish feeding published since 1984 continue to document the importance of small copepods as fish prey. Small copepods are abundant and are very important links in marine food webs. They serve as major grazers of phytoplankton, as components of the microbial loop by preying upon bacterio-plankton and heterotrophic protists, and as prey for ichthyoplankton and other larger pelagic carnivores. Small copepods exhibit various reproductive and feeding strategies which help maximize population size, in order to counter heavy losses due to predation. Accordingly, small copepods can become extremely abundant, and presumably exert substantial feeding impact on their prey, but such data are scarce. Our biomass, trophic ecology, and roles of small copepods in

b. Job in the environment: The Antarctic Fur Seal helps to keep the populations of Krill, Squid,and fish at a healthy level for the environment.

Study conducted by British Antarctic Survey in 2004 emphasized that Antarctic krill numbers are declining. Krill are very significant to the Antarctic food web and this decline could threaten whales, seals and penguins all of which rely on krill. The decline of krill has been associated to a intense decline in sea ice, their habita. Sea ice is a vigorous feeding ground for the enormous number of krill in the Southern Ocean. The research shows that krill decreased by about 80% since the 1970s. Krill feed on the algae which are found under the surface of the sea ice. The Antarctic Peninsula, an important breeding ground for the krill, has experienced an unusual shrinkage of sea ice.

Ancient penguins used to be relatively ginormous in size compared to how they look now. 57 million years ago, the average long beaked penguin stood 5 feet 7 inches, and was about 220 pounds. That’s the same size as the average sized man today. Today the largest living species of penguin is the emperor penguin, which stands at about 4 feet tall. There is actually no rock solid evidence as to why the average penguin size has decreased, just speculations. One popular theory as to why they have decreased in size is because of extinction. Many of the predators had died out, so they did not have to fear being killed. The penguins, since they had no predators, could adapt to catching their prey underwater without any real competition, or fear. The

Phytoplankton and Giant Kelp are two protists found in “Seasonal Seas”. Phytoplankton are the main primary producers found in the ocean. Spring is usually when phytoplankton bloom, which is known as the “spring bloom”. When too many nutrients are available, phytoplankton may grow out of control and form harmful algal blooms. Phytoplankton provide food for copepods, and they in turn are prey to jellyfish. This all contributes to the giant food web in the ocean. Phytoplankton utilize light and nutrients from the surface of the water which helps them get nutrients and live longer. Because of their dependency on the sun, they are found floating near the surface of the water. They are extremely dependent on minerals found in the ocean. The main two types of phytoplankton include the diatoms and dinoflagellates. Some of them can thrive in different conditions which means that primary consumers can get plenty of phytoplankton throughout the year. Phytoplankton also play an essential role in the

0% since the 1970s. Less sea ice during the winter is likely to be the cause and may explain declines seen in several species of penguins. Krill feed on the algae found under the surface of the sea ice, which acts as a kind of ‘nursery’. The Antarctic Peninsula, a key breeding ground for the krill, has experienced a striking decrease in sea ice.

Where do Antarctica animals live? Seal lovers have given Antarctica the seal of approval because six species of seals live in the waters and on the frozen continent. The fiercest are leopard seals, which eat seafood but sometimes prefer to eat penguins and other seals. The biggest seals are bull southern elephant seals, which can grow up to 20 feet long. When challnging other males, the bulls inflate their large noses to make their bellows louder and scarier. Elephant seals, going almost 5,000 feet deep and staying under for as long as two hours. Many whales make their summer home in the waters of the southern ocean. Blue whales are not only the largest of the baleen whales but also

For many people, different kinds of stuff fasten alluringness, for Gentoo Penguins, it is a secret, sacred gift. Kudos to the male Gentoo penguins, for they really know how to crush it. The trick is built around a gift that found root in love and protection, what girl's needs. The Gentoo penguin nests are built from roughly circular stones that are guarded jealously and their ownership is a reason for noisy dispute between the males. The female loved the stones, and the smart males go all the way to find it and offer a nice stone to the female of its choice. It always works. The stone-giving male always receives

Their diet consist of different crustaceans, bivalve, worms on the sea floor, and copepods, which are all commonly found around ocean vent ecosystems or floating along in the current.

During the summer months in the Antarctic the ice begins to melt releasing air bubbles and nutrients which phytoplankton feed on. Krill, a small shrimp like crustacean, feeds on plankton. The abundance of this plankton, and because of the small number of animals that eat it, has allowed Krill to reproduce in vast numbers and millions upon millions of them will mature to adult hood. This is an

This article explores the possibility of threat to the ecosystem and the food chain of the Ross Sea. The famous Antarctic toothfish plays a vital role in the food chain of the Ross Sea because it serves as a main meal for higher order organisms. Researchers as well as locals have noticed the decrease in the Antarctic toothfish because fishermen were not catching nearly as many toothfish as they were before 2002. This observation was puzzling because the use of a new tool for monitoring the amount of Antarctic toothfish in 2014 showed that the prevalence of the Antarctic toothfish was similar to that before 2002. These findings pushed researchers to hypothesize that either the Antarctic toothfish had recently returned to the McMurdo Sound or

There are 17 different types of penguins. I’m going to be talking about the about the Adelie, Gentoo, and Emperor penguins. The Adelie can grow up to 28 inches, they can weigh up to 12 pounds, and has an average lifespan of 20 years. The Adelie has black feathers that cover its head, throat, back, and tail, they also have black and white plumage and a small ring of white feathers surrounding each eye. These birds have been observed for stealing rocks from their neighbors nests, the rocks are used for nests. The birds are very cautious and protective of their chicks. Their scientific name is Pygoscelis adeliae and their family name is Spheniscidae, their colonies an average of half a million, the world population of the Adelie is 5 million and