Abstract
Chen et al. (Polar Biology, 43(11):1769–1781) recently reported lagged, region-specific responses of Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) abundance to environmental variability in the Ross Sea, Antarctica. Their study suggests that lags are important toward understanding Adélie penguin population change. Though we agree with many of their findings, there are several issues with these authors’ hypotheses and consequent interpretation of their results. Generally, the selected environmental variables and the scales analyzed need proper justification, as their reasoning of the causality on penguin abundance at the Ross Sea is not in agreement with previous natural history studies of both the penguins and their prey carried out in this region. Here we provide critically constructive comments on their paper and present alternative initial hypothesis to explain their results. We suggest that the variables analyzed and their scale, should be re-considered in order to reach conclusions that help explain the recent changes in Adélie penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, ‘home’ to about one-third of the global population.
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Morandini, V., Salas, L., Nur, N. et al. Comment on “Lagged response of Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) abundance to environmental variability in the Ross Sea, Antarctica”. Polar Biol 45, 769–772 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-022-03005-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-022-03005-8