Penguins Modern State: Consequences Of Global Warming

Introduction

Global Warming is a consequence of greenhouse effects of water vapour and other gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide which are the most abundant. Global warming is a very topical and controversial issue which effects the global community and the environment. It is of utmost importance to redress the causing problems associated with the negative effects which contribute to the speed and rate it occurs.

Water vapor contributes significantly to the greenhouse effect, between 35% and 65 % for clear sky conditions and between 65% and 85% for a cloudy day. (Sheng Wei, Han Chiu and Chih Hsieh, 2019). It is not directly affected by human activities. Carbon released during fossil fuel burning is the primary contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. (Sperling and Cannon, 2014). Greenhouse gas emission is increasing alarmingly due to bulk electricity generation from fossil fuel such as coal, gas and oil with its limited stock. (Karmaker et al., 2019). Livestock production also contributes to environmental degradation as it produces methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Livestock production is responsible for 18% CH4 and 9% CO2 productions of all greenhouse gases emissions. (Ugbogu et al., 2019). Methane doesn’t last as long in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide but has a more devastating effect because of its ability to absorb heat more effectively. Methane is more potent than carbon dioxide in trapping heat in the atmosphere. Methane is also emitted from the oil and gas industry. Nitrous oxide makes up an extremely small amount of the atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions. It is a colourless gas under ambient conditions, which exhibits a slightly sweet odour and taste. (Trogler, 1999). Nitrous oxide is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming impact 300 times higher than carbon dioxide.

Figure 1 – The Ranking of countries in 2017 according GHG profiles. (Zheng, Streimikiene and Balezentis, 2019)

Discussion

Glacier retreat and permafrost thaw are among the most evident effects of current climate change. The cryosphere is the frozen component of the Earth system, in which frozen water is bound in snow, ice sheets, ice-caps, glaciers, lake and river ice, frozen ground and sea ice. The large polar ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland together with smaller glaciers and ice caps in mountain regions worldwide cover about 10% of Earth’s land surface and contain 74% of the planet’s freshwater, with groundwater comprising most of the remaining 26%. (Thorsteinsson, Jóhannesson and Snorrason, 2013).

Marine ecosystems in arctic and subarctic seas are undergoing rapid transformation due to sea ice loss, ocean warming and regional increases in primary. (Moore et al., 2019). Our knowledge of polar bears and their behaviour comes from centuries of lore from Inuit hunters and early explorers, from biologists, and from faithful researchers in the last 40 years. (Fitzgerald, 2019). As an apex predator dependent on sea ice as habitat for catching prey, polar bears are threatened in terms of survival rates due to the loss of sea ice in relation to climate change. (S. Elvin, 2014). The combined effects of decreasing food availability and increasing energetic demands are predicted to result in decreasing polar bear body condition and a consequent cascade of demographic effects. (K. Molnár, E. Derocher and Gregory W. Thiemann, 2010). Without ice to hunt on polar bears will struggle to survive, it took tens of thousands of years for polar bears to evolve from there terrestrial ancestor to the marine mammal they are today. The bears simply cannot reverse that process in a few generations and switch back.

Emperor penguin colonies occur in coastal locations around the continent with almost all on fast ice, which is sea ice held in place by geographic features and grounded icebergs. (Trathan et al., 2019). More than 80% of penguin species are affected by climate change (Dias et al., 2019). The main threat to the penguins comes from changes to sea-ice cover in the Antarctic, which will affect their breeding and feeding. They depend on fast ice throughout their breeding period, thus late fast ice formation or early ice break up greatly reduces their chances of successfully breeding.

Climate change is impacting marine organisms through changes in ocean conditions, such as temperature, oxygen, salinity, pH, currents, and primary production. Marine species responses to shifting climate conditions include changes in growth and body size, changes in species distribution and timing of phenological events, impacting population abundance and productivity. (Talloni et al., 2019). The ocean absorbs most (~93%) of the heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in a predicted increase in the sea surface temperature of 1–10°C over the next 100 years (Baltar et al., 2019)

Climate change will continue to intensify within coastal zones throughout this century, having transformative impacts on aquatic ecosystems . At the same time, the co-occurrences of climate change stressors, eutrophication, and harmful algal blooms pose significant threats to the structure and function of aquatic food webs. (Griffith and Gobler, 2019). High water temperature and low circulation are contributing factors to harmful algal blooms.