This field season is the first time we’ve been at Punta Tombo, Argentina persistently from October to March since before the pandemic! We’ve seen chicks hatch and watched them grow into chubby fledglings. Unfortunately many died in December with their bellies full; we suspect it was due to toxic algae, which could also be the cause of the 71 southern […]
Animals can change their behavior to survive in environments that are constantly changing, a skill known as behavioral plasticity. Scientists have suggested that some animals might show “plasticity syndromes,” meaning they are flexible in many behaviors at the same time. Plasticity syndromes in wild vertebrates could help them respond better to change. To test this idea, researchers studied Magellanic penguins
We continued our Punta Tombo field season this winter with graduate student Erik Johansson, former undergrad lab member Chloe Rabinowitz, and program coordinator Kalyna Durbak staying on site from January 12 through February 21. Our goal for this trip was to attach GTA* and GPS tags on adult penguins who were actively feeding chicks in order to log their foraging
Full title: The capacity of sentinel species to detect changes in environmental conditions and ecosystem structureAuthors: T. J. Clark-Wolf, Katie A. Holt, Erik Johansson, Anna C. Nisi, Kasim Rafiq, Leigh West, P. Dee Boersma, Elliott L. Hazen, Sue E. Moore, Briana AbrahmsJournal: Journal of Applied EcologyDOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.14669 “A major obstacle to preventing and reversing biodiversity loss in the Anthropocene lies in the scarcity of tools and data for monitoring
In January and February of 2023 Dr. Dee Boersma, along with PhD students Katie Holt (Boersma Lab) and Erik Johansson (Abrahms Lab), spent six weeks in Punta Tombo to set up the remote scales that weigh penguins on their way in and out of the breeding area, and followed 19 penguins using GPS tags. The three of them were also able
Climate change and human–wildlife conflict are major problems for both biodiversity conservation and people today. Climate change makes conflicts worse by reducing resources, changing where animals and people live, and increasing how often they run into each other. Scientists have found climate-related conflicts involving many kinds of animals across all continents and oceans. These conflicts can harm local livelihoods, large
