Wienecke Barbara

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Wienecke
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Barbara
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  • Article
    The call of the emperor penguin: legal responses to species threatened by climate change
    (Wiley, 2021-08-03) Jenouvrier, Stephanie ; Che-Castaldo, Judy ; Wolf, Shaye ; Holland, Marika M. ; Labrousse, Sara ; LaRue, Michelle ; Wienecke, Barbara ; Fretwell, Peter T. ; Barbraud, Christophe ; Greenwald, Noah ; Stroeve, Julienne ; Trathan, Phil N.
    Species extinction risk is accelerating due to anthropogenic climate change, making it urgent to protect vulnerable species through legal frameworks in order to facilitate conservation actions that help mitigate risk. Here, we discuss fundamental concepts for assessing climate change risks to species using the example of the emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri), currently being considered for protection under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). This species forms colonies on Antarctic sea ice, which is projected to significantly decline due to ongoing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. We project the dynamics of all known emperor penguin colonies under different GHG emission scenarios using a climate-dependent meta-population model including the effects of extreme climate events based on the observational satellite record of colonies. Assessments for listing species under the ESA require information about how species resiliency, redundancy and representation (3Rs) will be affected by threats within the foreseeable future. Our results show that if sea ice declines at the rate projected by climate models under current energy system trends and policies, the 3Rs would be dramatically reduced and almost all colonies would become quasi-extinct by 2100. We conclude that the species should be listed as threatened under the ESA.
  • Article
    The emperor penguin - vulnerable to projected rates of warming and sea ice loss
    (Elsevier, 2019-10-08) Trathan, Phil N. ; Wienecke, Barbara ; Barbraud, Christophe ; Jenouvrier, Stephanie ; Kooyman, Gerald L. ; Le Bohec, Céline ; Ainley, David G. ; Ancel, André ; Zitterbart, Daniel ; Chown, Steven L. ; LaRue, Michelle ; Cristofari, Robin ; Younger, Jane ; Clucas, Gemma V. ; Bost, Charles-Andre ; Brown, Jennifer A. ; Gillett, Harriet J. ; Fretwell, Peter T.
    We argue the need to improve climate change forecasting for ecology, and importantly, how to relate long-term projections to conservation. As an example, we discuss the need for effective management of one species, the emperor penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri. This species is unique amongst birds in that its breeding habit is critically dependent upon seasonal fast ice. Here, we review its vulnerability to ongoing and projected climate change, given that sea ice is susceptible to changes in winds and temperatures. We consider published projections of future emperor penguin population status in response to changing environments. Furthermore, we evaluate the current IUCN Red List status for the species, and recommend that its status be changed to Vulnerable, based on different modelling projections of population decrease of ≥50% over the current century, and the specific traits of the species. We conclude that current conservation measures are inadequate to protect the species under future projected scenarios. Only a reduction in anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions will reduce threats to the emperor penguin from altered wind regimes, rising temperatures and melting sea ice; until such time, other conservation actions are necessary, including increased spatial protection at breeding sites and foraging locations. The designation of large-scale marine spatial protection across its range would benefit the species, particularly in areas that have a high probability of becoming future climate change refugia. We also recommend that the emperor penguin is listed by the Antarctic Treaty as an Antarctic Specially Protected Species, with development of a species Action Plan.
  • Article
    Marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean: birds and marine mammals in a changing climate
    (Frontiers Media, 2020-11-04) Bestley, Sophie ; Ropert-Coudert, Yan ; Bengtson Nash, Susan ; Brooks, Cassandra M. ; Cotté, Cédric ; Dewar, Meagan ; Friedlaender, Ari S. ; Jackson, Jennifer A. ; Labrousse, Sara ; Lowther, Andrew D. ; McMahon, Clive R. ; Phillips, Richard A. ; Pistorius, Pierre ; Puskic, Peter S. ; de Almeida Reis, Ana Olívia ; Reisinger, Ryan ; Santos, Mercedes ; Tarszisz, Esther ; Tixier, Paul ; Trathan, Phil N. ; Wege, Mia ; Wienecke, Barbara
    The massive number of seabirds (penguins and procellariiformes) and marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds) – referred to here as top predators – is one of the most iconic components of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. They play an important role as highly mobile consumers, structuring and connecting pelagic marine food webs and are widely studied relative to other taxa. Many birds and mammals establish dense breeding colonies or use haul-out sites, making them relatively easy to study. Cetaceans, however, spend their lives at sea and thus aspects of their life cycle are more complicated to monitor and study. Nevertheless, they all feed at sea and their reproductive success depends on the food availability in the marine environment, hence they are considered useful indicators of the state of the marine resources. In general, top predators have large body sizes that allow for instrumentation with miniature data-recording or transmitting devices to monitor their activities at sea. Development of scientific techniques to study reproduction and foraging of top predators has led to substantial scientific literature on their population trends, key biological parameters, migratory patterns, foraging and feeding ecology, and linkages with atmospheric or oceanographic dynamics, for a number of species and regions. We briefly summarize the vast literature on Southern Ocean top predators, focusing on the most recent syntheses. We also provide an overview on the key current and emerging pressures faced by these animals as a result of both natural and human causes. We recognize the overarching impact that environmental changes driven by climate change have on the ecology of these species. We also evaluate direct and indirect interactions between marine predators and other factors such as disease, pollution, land disturbance and the increasing pressure from global fisheries in the Southern Ocean. Where possible we consider the data availability for assessing the status and trends for each of these components, their capacity for resilience or recovery, effectiveness of management responses, risk likelihood of key impacts and future outlook.
  • Article
    Dynamic fine-scale sea icescape shapes adult emperor penguin foraging habitat in east Antarctica
    (American Geophysical Union, 2019-09-16) Labrousse, Sara ; Fraser, Alexander D. ; Sumner, Michael ; Tamura, Takeshi ; Pinaud, David ; Wienecke, Barbara ; Kirkwood, Roger ; Ropert-Coudert, Yan ; Reisinger, Ryan ; Jonsen, Ian ; Porter‐Smith, Rick ; Barbraud, Christophe ; Bost, Charles-Andre ; Ji, Rubao ; Jenouvrier, Stephanie
    The emperor penguin, an iconic species threatened by projected sea ice loss in Antarctica, has long been considered to forage at the fast ice edge, presumably relying on large/yearly persistent polynyas as their main foraging habitat during the breeding season. Using newly developed fine‐scale sea icescape data and historical penguin tracking data, this study for the first time suggests the importance of less recognized small openings, including cracks, flaw leads and ephemeral short‐term polynyas, as foraging habitats for emperor penguins. The tracking data retrieved from 47 emperor penguins in two different colonies in East Antarctica suggest that those penguins spent 23% of their time in ephemeral polynyas and did not use the large/yearly persistent, well‐studied polynyas, even if they occur much more regularly with predictable locations. These findings challenge our previous understanding of emperor penguin breeding habitats, highlighting the need for incorporating fine‐scale seascape features when assessing the population persistence in a rapidly changing polar environment.
  • Preprint
    Convergence of marine megafauna movement patterns in coastal and open oceans
    ( 2017-09) Sequeira, Ana M. M. ; Rodríguez, Jorge P. ; Eguíluz, Víctor M. ; Harcourt, Robert ; Hindell, Mark ; Sims, David W. ; Duarte, Carlos M. ; Costa, Daniel P. ; Fernández-Gracia, Juan ; Ferreira, Luciana C. ; Hays, Graeme ; Heupel, Michelle R. ; Meekan, Mark G. ; Aven, Allen ; Bailleul, Frédéric ; Baylis, Alastair M. M. ; Berumen, Michael L. ; Braun, Camrin D. ; Burns, Jennifer ; Caley, M. Julian ; Campbell, R. ; Carmichael, Ruth H. ; Clua, Eric ; Einoder, Luke D. ; Friedlaender, Ari S. ; Goebel, Michael E. ; Goldsworthy, Simon D. ; Guinet, Christophe ; Gunn, John ; Hamer, D. ; Hammerschlag, Neil ; Hammill, Mike O. ; Hückstädt, Luis A. ; Humphries, Nicolas E. ; Lea, Mary-Anne ; Lowther, Andrew D. ; Mackay, Alice ; McHuron, Elizabeth ; McKenzie, J. ; McLeay, Lachlan ; McMahon, Cathy R. ; Mengersen, Kerrie ; Muelbert, Monica M. C. ; Pagano, Anthony M. ; Page, B. ; Queiroz, N. ; Robinson, Patrick W. ; Shaffer, Scott A. ; Shivji, Mahmood ; Skomal, Gregory B. ; Thorrold, Simon R. ; Villegas-Amtmann, Stella ; Weise, Michael ; Wells, Randall S. ; Wetherbee, Bradley M. ; Wiebkin, A. ; Wienecke, Barbara ; Thums, Michele
    The extent of increasing anthropogenic impacts on large marine vertebrates partly depends on the animals’ movement patterns. Effective conservation requires identification of the key drivers of movement including intrinsic properties and extrinsic constraints associated with the dynamic nature of the environments the animals inhabit. However, the relative importance of intrinsic versus extrinsic factors remains elusive. We analyse a global dataset of 2.8 million locations from > 2,600 tracked individuals across 50 marine vertebrates evolutionarily separated by millions of years and using different locomotion modes (fly, swim, walk/paddle). Strikingly, movement patterns show a remarkable convergence, being strongly conserved across species and independent of body length and mass, despite these traits ranging over 10 orders of magnitude among the species studied. This represents a fundamental difference between marine and terrestrial vertebrates not previously identified, likely linked to the reduced costs of locomotion in water. Movement patterns were primarily explained by the interaction between species-specific traits and the habitat(s) they move through, resulting in complex movement patterns when moving close to coasts compared to more predictable patterns when moving in open oceans. This distinct difference may be associated with greater complexity within coastal micro-habitats, highlighting a critical role of preferred habitat in shaping marine vertebrate global movements. Efforts to develop understanding of the characteristics of vertebrate movement should consider the habitat(s) through which they move to identify how movement patterns will alter with forecasted severe ocean changes, such as reduced Arctic sea ice cover, sea level rise and declining oxygen content.