Further evidence of king penguins? breeding range extension at South Shetland Islands?

MARIANA A. JUARES; JAVIER NEGRETE; JORGE A. MENNUCCI; PABLO J. PERCHIVALE; M. MERCEDES SANTOS; EUGENIA MOREIRA; NÉSTOR R. CORIA

ANTARCTIC SCIENCE

CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS

Lugar: Cambridge; Año: 2014 vol. 26 p. 261 - 262

0954-1020

In this paper we report the most austral breeding attempt, to our knowledge, of a king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) pair incubating at Stranger Point, Isla 25 de Mayo/King George Island, South Shetland, Antarctica. Shifts in distribution and breeding range can be specific biological responses against environmental variability evidenced at Antarctic Peninsula and outlying islands in the global climate change context, as was registered in others sub-Antarctic species, such as gentoo penguin. Recently, Petry et al. (2013) have reported a possible southward expansion of king penguin breeding range and also consider that an increment in the number of breeding pairs observed on Elephant Island (South Shetland Islands) could occur. Our observations contributes with more evidences to reinforce Petry et al. (2013) hypothesis.