Essay by Eric Worrall
Aussie scientists struggling to present good news as a grim warning about the future.
Phillip Island’s little penguin colony passes 40,000 as climate change leads to more mating
ABC Gippsland / By William Howard and Millicent Spencer
Polyamorous little penguins living on Phillip Island, off Australia’s southern coast, are having so much sex there are now more than 40,000 of them — and it is all thanks to climate change.
Key points:
- Phillip Island’s little penguin colony is growing as rising sea temperatures lead to more fish
- With more energy, the animals are mating twice each season, often with different partners
- Climate scientists warn it is important to look at the full picture of events in the ecosystem
As sea surface temperatures have increased, so too has the number of fish swimming in the surrounding coastal waters.
Phillip Island Nature Parks marine scientist and Monash University associate professor Andre Chiaradia said the influx of food meant the “opportunistic” little penguins had more time, and energy, to mate.
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A false sense of hope?
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Professor Brendan Wintle, the director of the Melbourne Biodiversity Institute and lead councillor at the Biodiversity Council, said shifts in one part of an ecosystem had impacts elsewhere.
“Ecosystems are big connections, big webs of interactions between animals and plants,” he said.
“If you’re seeing changes in one animal or plant species, you can be absolutely sure that’s going to be having an impact on hundreds of other species that we may not be studying so closely.”
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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-02-01/little-penguin-colony-growing-as-climate-changes-victoria/103414498
I think I understand this climate thing now. When a species mass die off occurs, climate change is blamed, but when benign conditions cause populations to boom, scientists warn about the imminent climate change mass die off.
So what are the long term prospects for the penguins?
I don’t expect record populations to continue uninterrupted, really big concentrations of a single species are a disease magnet. No doubt any disease driven die back will be blamed on global warming.
Longer term, even if global warming continues, there is no evidence global warming would harm fish populations, quite the opposite. During the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, 5-8C hotter than today, the oceans were full of fish.
You mean to tell us that the biosphere is interconnected? What an amazing discovery! Let’s send more taxpayer money in to fund more research grants now.
Those male penguins looked at the full picture and thought: more fish? That’s an opportunity! Ladies, here we come.
Anyone who has any understanding of biology and biochemistry and geo history also understands that a warming Earth is a planet friendlier to biota of most kinds, both in terms of total biomass of the planet, and biodiversity. Cold climates depress bioproduction such that only cold adapted species survive and thrive, while warm climates encourage virtually all species to thrive or, if cold adapted, to naturally adapt to warmer, wetter environments. It is fundamental to bioscience.
All biological organisms are at their essence biochemical engines. Warmer temperatures favor higher reaction rates. Shedding excess body heat is easily handled by adaptive mechanisms like sweating or panting, creating relatively little biological stress, while being exposed to cold temperatures requires either excessive consumption of fuel (food energy) or results in body temperatures that either reduce activity and function, or even result in death.