The Polar Retrospective – New conservation status for emperor penguins, eDNA to monitor marine biodiversity and Putin in Murmansk
The Polar Retrospective looks at recent stories from around the world’s polar regions. This week we look at a new classification for emperor penguins, a new tool being tested on board the Australian, and Vladimir Putin’s speech at the Russian Arctic Forum.
The Polar Retrospective is a collaborative effort by the editorial team of polarjournal.net. Each writer chooses a topic they found interesting and important in the past week. The initials at the end of each section indicate the author. We hope you enjoy it.
Emperors soon on the red list ?
Emperor penguins should be reclassified from “near threatened” to “vulnerable” or “endangered” on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, according to a study published on March 25 in the journal Biological Conservation. This reassessment, carried out by researchers at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), underlines the urgency of taking conservation measures in the face of the effects of global warming for a species that is highly dependent on its environment.
To reach these conclusions, the researchers used several types of data, including decades of observations of individual penguins, time series of chick and adult populations, and ten years of satellite imagery to track the size of 50 colonies. They also took into account colony movements and changes over time, using genetic and population data. This information was used to create three different ecological models to simulate Emperor penguin population dynamics and assess the risk of extinction under different environmental conditions.
For Antarctic penguins, the results are clear: there is an urgent need to reassess the status of this iconic Antarctic animal. With climate change affecting their natural habitat, the Emperor now faces a high risk of extinction in the coming decades. M.B.
Biodiversity monitoring in East Antarctica using eDNA
On board the Australian research vessel RSV Nuyina, geneticist Dr. Leonie Suter from the Australian Antarctic Division is currently testing new methods for monitoring biodiversity in Antarctic waters. The aim is to use environmental DNA (eDNA) to document marine biodiversity in the region around the Denman Glacier in East Antarctica.
In one part of the project, Dr. Suter is manually collecting seawater samples from the surface and various depths in order to create a three-dimensional picture of the organisms living in the water. eDNA is genetic material released by organisms into their environment – for example, through skin cells, scales, mucus, or excretions. “In this way, we can study species diversity using a small water sample without ever having seen any of the animals,” explains Dr. Suter.
At the same time, in collaboration with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), Dr. Suter is testing two new technologies: the Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) and the Filtering Instrument for DNA Observation (FIDO). Both instruments automatically filter 60 and 144 water samples, respectively, and preserve the material collected on the filters. The samples can then be stored for two to four months without refrigeration.
The current trials are designed to test both systems under real-world conditions over ten weeks with very little human interaction. Their results will later be compared with the manually collected samples. She “expects the unexpected,” says Dr. Suter.
If the tests of the automated systems are successful, they could make a decisive contribution to monitoring Antarctic ecosystems in the future as part of a long-term program. J.H.
Putin reaffirms Russia’s Arctic ambitions in Murmansk
On March 27, in Murmansk, Putin gave a speech aimed at promoting the development of the Northern Sea Route, as part of the Arctic Forum at the Kirov Palace of Culture. The last one was held in Arkhangelsk, but Putin did not attend. This time yes and in his speech, he mentioned President Trump’s “historic” growing interest in Greenland, calling it however a “Greenland issue”. Putin set out his narrative on the geopolitical climate in the Arctic. According to him US would continue “to promote its economic, geopolitical and military interests”. He also reminded the difficulties of cooperation through the Arctic Council pointing out that “Russia has never refused to exchange”. Moreover, he doesn’t understand why NATO countries are increasing their military exercises using the forces of new recruits such as Finland and Sweden, explaining that “Russia has never threatened anyone in the Arctic”.
After this introduction, he sets out his main development objectives, such as increasing military capabilities to prevent “surrounding”, and building the Northern Sea Route with “friendly states”. This is perhaps a second nod to the US government, the first having been made public at the Riyadh meeting last month. Increasing the icebreaker fleet, promoting freight and containers, building new shipyards, developing a trans-Arctic rail system… the industrial growth plan hasn’t really changed since the last forum, “one of Russia’s attempts to attract foreign investment,” Frédéric Lasserre, director of the Conseil québécois d’Études géopolitiques, told polarjournal.net last year. “They want to continue to develop their resources and international shipping at a time when investors are cautious because of the economic sanctions triggered by the war in Ukraine.” But will US geopolitics change the game? C.L.
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