A reversal of fortunes: climate change 'winners' and 'losers' in Antarctic Peninsula penguins.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is a major threat to global biodiversity. Antarctic ecosystems are no exception. Investigating past species responses to climatic events can distinguish natural from anthropogenic impacts. Climate change produces 'winners', species that benefit from these events and 'losers', species that decline or become extinct. Using molecular techniques, we assess the demographic history and population structure of Pygoscelis penguins in the Scotia Arc related to climate warming after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). All three pygoscelid penguins responded positively to post-LGM warming by expanding from glacial refugia, with those breeding at higher latitudes expanding most. Northern (Pygoscelis papua papua) and Southern (Pygoscelis papua ellsworthii) gentoo sub-species likely diverged

SUBMITTER: Clucas GV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4034736 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature