The interaction between island geomorphology and environmental parameters drives Adelie penguin breeding phenology on neighboring islands near Palmer Station, Antarctica.

ABSTRACT: Despite many studies on Adélie penguin breeding phenology, understanding the drivers of clutch initiation dates (CIDs, egg 1 lay date) is limited or lacks consensus. Here, we investigated Adélie penguin CIDs over 25 years (1991-2016) on two neighboring islands, Torgersen and Humble (<1 km apart), in a rapidly warming region near Palmer Station, Antarctica. We found that sea ice was the primary large-scale driver of CIDs and precipitation was a secondary small-scale driver that fine-tunes CID to island-specific nesting habitat geomorphology. In general, CIDs were earlier (later) when the spring sea ice retreat was earlier (later) and when the preceding annual ice season was shorter (longer). Island-specific effects related to precipitation and island geomorphology caused greater snow accumu

SUBMITTER: Cimino MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6706194 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature