Dive Into Your Imagination

Wayne Trivelpiece has been working with his favorite animal, the penguin, for the past 30 years! As the director of the seabird predator research program, he designs and implements many different studies involving both penguins and krill (one of their favorite foods) all the way in Antarctica! Wayne believes that “a healthy ocean is crucial to the survival of the planet”, so we all have to work together to protect it!

What research are you currently working on, and what do you hope to find?
One of the key findings arising from our studies of penguins is that it is the non-breeding, winter period when most of the losses of both adult and juvenile penguins occur. We are currently exploring the winter period using new techniques that allow us to determine what penguins are eating in the winter, where they are going and how these factors vary from year-to-year.

What has this research shown about the effects of climate change on the penguins that you study?
Our research is conducted in the Antarctic Peninsula region, south of the tip of South America. It is one of the fastest warming regions on our planet with 5-6°C increases in winter temperatures over the last 50 years. This increased warming has reduced the formation of sea ice, which has in turn reduced the amount of algae that lives on the bottom of it. This algae serves as a food source for krill—the crustacean that is a key part of the food web for many Antarctic predators, especially penguins.

Young krill depend on ice algae as a winter food supply and do not survive or reproduce well when sea ice is absent. This in turn has meant the penguins have less food available to them for supporting their chicks and these chicks have much higher mortality rates now after fledging than they did 20 years ago. Two of the species we study, Adélie and chinstrap penguins, have declined by approximately 70% in numbers over the last 20 years and recent estimates of krill declines in this region are nearly 80% lower than they were in the early 1980s. We believe these declines are directly linked to climate change via the increased temperatures, concurrent declines in sea-ice, and the negative impacts these physical changes have had on krill productivity and survival.

It’s fascinating how all of these different organisms are connected. What methods do you use in order to study the penguins?
We study both adult penguins and their eggs. We collect eggs from abandoned penguin nests, early in the breeding season and save the eggs for analysis. Eggs are produced from fats, proteins and minerals stored in a penguin’s body, and krill, fish and squid have different chemical compositions that are recognizable in the penguin egg tissues. By analyzing the eggs, we can determine the relative contributions of different prey types (e.g., fish, krill, and squid) to the winter diets of each penguin species. Preliminary results suggest that penguins rely much more on fish in the winter, although they all eat mostly krill in the summer.

Much of our work relies on direct observations of penguins using binoculars to read bands around their flippers we used to mark and distinguish them. We then look for these birds every day to record their breeding success and year-to-year survival. However, we also use new technologies to tell us about what the penguins are doing at times (winter) and places (at sea) when we can’t observe them directly. Some of our newest studies involve using satellite tags to track penguins during their summer feeding trips, when they are hunting for food to feed their fast growing chicks, and during the winter, to see where they go after they leave the breeding grounds once their chicks fledge. We also use time-depth recorders to record the diving behavior, and radio transmitters that allow us to know how long a penguin has been at sea looking for food. Together these methods and instruments allow us to look into how a penguin lives, what it eats and where it goes to find food.

Can you tell us more about the different species of penguins you study?
The Antarctic Peninsula region is an area of overlap between penguins adapted to the high latitudes (Adélie penguins) and the Sub-Antarctic region (gentoo penguins), while being right in the heart of the chinstrap penguin distribution. One of the key reasons we chose this region for study was that it had breeding populations of all three krill-consuming Pygoscelis penguins. The three species all rely almost exclusively on krill for their food needs but they have different breeding times, diving abilities, foraging strategies and wintering areas.

Adélie and chinstrap penguins are both migratory. Adélie penguins winter on the sea-ice in the Weddell Sea, chinstrap penguins winter to the north of their breeding colonies in open water. All three species normally lay 2 eggs. Both Adélie and chinstrap penguins come ashore in the austral spring (the same time of year as fall in the northern hemisphere) and fast for 3 weeks until the eggs are laid. As such, they must breed shortly after arrival before they use all of their stored energy. Gentoo penguins are non-migratory and stay around the breeding colony all year. Unlike either the Adélie or chinstrap, they are very flexible in their laying, as they do not fast and can adjust for local climate conditions (such as waiting for deep snow to melt). This has given the gentoo a big advantage over its close relatives, and as a result, gentoo penguins raise more chicks than either Adélie or chinstrap penguins in most years.

Why is your research important, and why is research rewarding for you?
You always have to ask yourself “what does my research contribute to the bigger picture.” How could it add to our understanding of the whole? To see the forest, not just the trees, takes creativity and imagination, especially if you can only study an animal during a relatively small portion of its life cycle, when it comes ashore to breed. One of the most exciting aspects of science happens when the scenarios you’ve imagined, or hypothesized, are confirmed with data you or one of your colleagues has collected.

What is the seabird predator program, why is it important and what are your duties as director?
The seabird predator research is part of NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) Antarctic Marine Living Resources (AMLR) Program, which was designed to detect, monitor and predict the impacts of the krill fishery on krill and krill-dependent species. Our (AMLR) research combines ship-board measurements of krill biomass (from acoustic measures) and krill population structure (from net tows), with data from our land-based studies on krill predators, such as penguins and fur seals. We have been conducting this coordinated land-sea research program for over 20 years now and I have worked on penguins an additional decade prior to the formation of the US AMLR Program.

This body of work is the longest, best-documented, coordinated ecosystem study of Antarctica in existence. Results from our collective work has been used to provide advice as to how we might manage the future catch of the krill fishery in ways that will minimize impacts of land-based predators while still allowing the fishery to operate effectively.

You’re saying that our fishing is having a direct impact on penguins and other krill-eaters? What can we do in order to reduce the impacts we’re having on the Antarctic?
The direct human impacts on Antarctica are quite varied. Some are relatively minor such as tourism and krill fishing, which are small in scope and fairly well regulated in the region where I work. Other impacts, such as the illegal fishery for Toothfish and the impact of fishing with Long-lines containing 1000s of baited hooks are both of growing concern. However, the temperature increase in the Antarctic Peninsula region is the greatest anywhere on the planet. In order to hinder this we must curb our CO2 emissions by reducing our use of energy, and move to renewable sources of energy. By doing this we can help not only Antarctica, but the planet as a whole.

What is your favorite experience from your research? Why do you like working in Antarctica?
If you want to make a difference in something, you must love what you do. There is no substitute for passion for your work. However, that said it is also true that you must be willing to work hard, take criticism (constructive or not), & be open to suggestions/advice from colleagues. Scientists that are truly dedicated to what they do are usually successful in their endeavors and are good at communicating what they do and why it is important to others.

Working daily with the penguins and other flying seabirds in Antarctica is unlike anything else I have ever done. There is this amazing sense of adventure that goes hand-in-hand with the research. In addition, our field camp is near a Polish Station (Arctowski), across Admiralty Bay from a Brazilian Base (Ferraz), and on the same Island (King George Island) as research stations form a dozen foreign countries. Living and working in this international setting adds so much to the research experience and allows us to collaborate with scientists from many different countries as well as learn about people from different cultures.

Antarctica is very far away from home for most of us. What can we do to help from such a great distance away?
One of the best things you can do is to spend time at, in and around the ocean and spread the word about it to every one you know. Hike, swim and surf at the beach; fish, snorkel and scuba. Encourage everyone you know get to know the amazing world of the Ocean. Take your kids to the beach. If you live near the ocean, invite your land-locked cousins to visit you there. People protect and defend what they love and it’s hard not to love the ocean once you’ve visited it and made it a part of your experience.

Biography:
As a child Wayne Trivelpiece always loved nature, and especially enjoyed camping, hiking, fishing, and hunting with his father in the Adirondack Mountains of New York.  In high school Wayne loved biology and eventually went on to receive his B.S. in biology from Eastern College.  He then went on to receive his Ph.D. in zoology from SUNY-ESF in Syracuse.   Since then he has been involved with various research studies, including studying the effects of oil in seabird populations in Maine.  Wayne has also worked at the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, at Montana State University as an associate professor, and also serves as the United States seabird expert to the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.  Wayne’s primary research places him in Antarctica for three months a year studying the marine ecosystem of the South Shetland Islands.  In 1996, Wayne was one of only 10 people in the world to be chosen for a Pew Fellow in Marine Conservation and the Environment award in recognition for his lifetime contribution to marine conservation.

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