Krill In Antarctica

One of the reason why the Macaroni penguin is on this is is the abiotic and the biotic factors of the ecosystem that the Macaroni penguin lives in. Some of the abiotic factors are that the oil spills over the past years have affected the water that the penguins swim in and it is killing them and the food. Another abiotic factor that has be affecting the penguins is climate change. The climate change has affected the animal by warming of the water temperature and air temperature. This is the thing that as change the most to make the penguin on the endangered list. All of these other factors we here before this and global warming is affecting this animal in a bad way like many other arctic animals.

Hundreds of algae species are scattered across the land, as well as around 100 species of linchen, 350 species of moss, and 2 grass species. The subantarctic islands surrounding Antarctica have a wider range of plants. About 45 bird species populate the area south of the Antarctica Convergence, and a few penguins and petrels actually live on the continent. The waters surrounding Antarctica are full of seabirds, fish, seals, and whales.

Kathy Conlan is an expert in understanding the weird and wonderful world of marine creatures that live deep under the Arctic ice. She specializes in marine benthic biology and amphipod systematics. Kathy studies how human and natural changes affect marine life in the Arctic and Antarctic, the effects of pollution on marine life as well as global warming. She is past chief officer for Life Sciences in the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) and is a judge for SCAR’s Martha T. Muse Prize for Science and policy in Antarctica, represents Canada for the Canadian Committee on Antarctic Research, taught at Huntsman Marine Science Centre and Students On Ice, mentors university students and gives speaches and “Show and tells” at the museum.

Penguins lives in north pole. penguin eats fish, ray fish, squid, cod, krill and shrimp. They live for 10 years to 25 years. Penguins huddle up to keep warm because to protect them. A penguin is a bird but it cant fly. Baby penguins are born with out feathers. Penguins dive 50 to 60 feet to catch their food. when baby penguins are about 4 weeks old they huddle up to keep warm.

DeVries and his colleagues originally went to Antarctica to study respiratory metabolism in fish but what he noticed was that when they caught the fish and put it in an aquarium at freezing point seawater -1.09, the fish survived except for some of the deepwater fish. When those fish touched the ice that formed on the cooling coils of the aquarium, they froze.

Previously, we mentioned that fisheries are competing with penguins for food, however, a major issue remains climate change. According to The Huffington post, a study published by the World Wildlife Fund found that the world marine vertebrate population declined by 49% between 1970 and 2012. The rising temperature has caused coral reefs to decrease immensely, along with 33% of all seagrass to becoming lost due to rising temperatures. Commercial fish has decreased by 75%, these fish include mackerel and bonito. According to the article, if these fish serve as food sources to other species and animals, the lack of them could cause casualties in other animals.

The Antarctica has an ice shelf that is several miles wide around it. The sun never sets in the summer but sections of the ice shelf never melt. The Emperor penguin has been using these sections for breeding places for many years. These breeding areas are called rookeries.

A study that was created by Florida Institute of Technology, talked about how the king crabs who could hurt the ecosystem because of the warming waters. From the Antarctic Peninsula warming up is letting the king crabs go from their deep sea homes to the shallow waters. The land creatures will not know what to do if the crabs came up to the surface. With the other creatures, they never had seen crustaceans because they have been in the deep sea. With the data that was collected, it could not be proven that the crustaceans will move to surface. Researchers also found nothing that could stop the king crabs from coming up to the shallow waters even if it got warm. To prove the hypothesis, the hypothesis had to be tested. The researchers who worked

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.

No one realize that if the king crabs come up to the surface, it can change one thing but in a very big way. There is no proof that the king crabs will move to the surface and change the ecosystem. Because there is no proof, researchers had to test this hypothesis. James McClintock who is an author to the study, he explains how they can know if the king crabs will travel to the surface or not. The researchers would have to track the crabs’ movements by following them with a camera. As the ocean warms up in the Antarctic, the crabs will become powerful predators as they travel from their deep sea homes up to the surface. When the ocean is very cold, the crabs cannot survive the cold so they stay deep in the ocean to survive. The king crabs can

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.

Global warming also has an impact on the African penguins such as the adults have to travel further and expend more energy in order to find adequate food for themselves and their chicks which means more die from starvation.

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

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.

“Antarctica has this mythic weight. It resides in the collective unconscious of so many people, and it makes this huge impact, just like outer space. It’s like going to the moon.” ( John Krakauer) The antarctic is home to lots of different animals. Some of these are Adelie, Gentoo and Emperor penguins. Other animals are Elephant and leopard seals as well as Snow petrel, polar skuas and albatrosses. Penguins are often the favorite.