Two Recent Massive Breeding Failures in an Adélie Penguin Colony Call for the Creation of a Marine Protected Area in D'Urville Sea/Mertz
Résumé
In the d’Urville Sea in East Antarctica, a population of roughly 20,000 pairs of Adélie
penguins of Iles des Pétrels (Terre Adélie) has experienced two massive breeding failures,
with no chick surviving the 2013–14 and 2016–17 breeding seasons. In both seasons
the extent of sea ice in front of the colony persisted throughout the breeding cycle of
the birds. The timing of sea-ice recession differed greatly between seasons and the
absence of polynya in a crucial phase of the cycle were paramount in driving these
failures. The change in the icescape in front of Ile des Pétrels following the calving of
the Mertz glacier in 2010, together with increase in precipitations and changes in sea-ice
firmness explain this situation and are discussed in the present manuscript. To prevent
additional future impacts on this colony, like competition with fisheries for instance, we
strongly support a scientific research zone in the d’Urville Sea—Mertz area, one of the
three zones of proposed Marine Protected Area in East Antarctica to the Commission for
the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.