Thursday, April 5, 2007

Want to monitor climate change? P-p-p-pick up a penguin!

We are used to hearing about the effects of climate change in terms of unusual animal behaviour, such as altering patterns of fish and bird migration. However, scientists at the University of Birmingham are trying out an alternative bio-indicator – the king penguin – to investigate whether they can be used to monitor the effects of climate change.

“If penguins are travelling further or diving deeper for food, that tells us something about the availability of particular fish in regions of the Antarctic. We may be able to assess the pressure exerted by king penguins on this ecosystem, and look at the effects of both climate change and overfishing in this region of the world”, says Dr Lewis Halsey who will present his results on Wednesday 4th April at the Society for Experimental Biology’s Annual Meeting in Glasgow.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i've always wanted to know if i could have a penguin as a pet.but i've seached and searched to find out if a penguin live in a hot climate where i live.but this wed site has tault me that a certain penguin can.the little penguin.but seriously can i really have a penguin as a pet?if this website could tell me that this woud be the ulimate penguin lover website!

-BreAnna