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Population trends of penguins in the French Southern Territories

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Abstract

Penguins are important top consumers in marine food webs and are one of the most threatened bird families, especially by climate change and food web alterations by marine fisheries. Yet, long-term population trends are lacking or are uncertain for many populations. Seven species of penguins breeding at the French Southern Territories in the southern Indian Ocean on the Crozet, Kerguelen, Saint-Paul–Amsterdam archipelagos and in Terre Adélie/Adelie Land, Antarctica are monitored regularly. This monitoring started in the early 1950s and most populations have been surveyed during the past four years, allowing assessments of population trends. King penguins increased at nearly all breeding sites within the Crozet and Kerguelen archipelagos. Emperor penguins have decreased at Terre Adélie/Adelie Land, with a partial recovery of the colony during the 2010s. Gentoo penguin populations at Crozet and Kerguelen are highly variable but stable. Adélie penguins have been increasing in Terre Adélie/Adelie Land. The trends in eastern rockhopper penguins vary between colonies and archipelagos. Northern rockhopper penguins have continuously decreased in numbers at Amsterdam Island, but appear to have increased at the nearby Saint-Paul Island. Macaroni penguins have first increased and then stabilized since the 2000s at Kerguelen and are stable at the Crozet Islands. Overall, most penguin populations breeding in the French Southern Territories increased or were stable over the past 30–60 years, with the exception of the northern rockhopper penguin, king and gentoo penguins on Crozet and the emperor penguin. The ecological reasons for these trends are poorly understood and require further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

This study was funded by the French Polar Institute (project IPEV 109), Réserve Naturelle Nationale des Terres Australes Françaises, and the Zone Atelier Antarctique (LTSER France, CNRS-INEE). We thank all the fieldworkers involved in the long-term monitoring programs at Terre Adélie, Crozet, Kerguelen, Amsterdam and Saint-Paul archipelagos. We thank F. Stephen Dobson and two anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, CNRS UMR 7372, 79360, Villiers en Bois, France

    Christophe Barbraud, Karine Delord, Charles A. Bost & Henri Weimerskirch

  2. Réserve Naturelle Nationale des Terres Australes Françaises, TAAF Rue Gabriel Dejean, 97458, Saint-Pierre, France

    Adrien Chaigne & Cédric Marteau

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  1. Christophe Barbraud
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The study took place in the National Reserve of “Terres Australes Françaises” and was approved by the Préfet des TAAF, the ethics committee of IPEV and the “Comité de l’Environnement Polaire”.

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Barbraud, C., Delord, K., Bost, C.A. et al. Population trends of penguins in the French Southern Territories. Polar Biol 43, 835–850 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-020-02691-6

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