by Amber-Marie Richardson

Created on: October 29, 2009   Last Updated: October 30, 2009

Climate change is an environmental concern which is affecting most species across the world. Even for humans, the threat that climate change poses is huge. However, one species which is now facing greater risk than ever from the problem of climate change is the penguin.

While penguins have a remarkable ability to survive in some of the most inhospitable environments on Earth, penguins are more and more commonly being highlighted as a species which is coming under extreme threat of extinction due to changes in the climate which are believed to be caused by human activities.

On the whole, global climate change is affecting penguins and their habitats in three major ways.

1. Loss of breeding habitat

The Emperor, Adelie, Chinstrap, and Gentoo penguin, are all penguins which breed in Antarctica, and the sea-ice around the Antarctic provides an important habitat for Emperor penguins to raise their chicks.

When Emperor penguin chicks hatch, their feathers lack the waterproofing that is so commonly attributed to adult Emperor penguins. As such, if the sea ice on which the Emperor penguins rear their chicks melts too early, then the chicks will most likely fall into the sea and die.

Although most of the sea-ice which surrounds Antarctica regularly undergoes seasonal melting, the rapid temperature increases being witnessed at the Antarctic Peninsula are causing this sea ice to melt much sooner than it would have done previously. Because of this, many colonies of Emperor penguins that breed in this area, are now suffering from greater declines in population, which is increasing the Emperor penguin's risk of extinction in the near future.

While the Adelie penguin does not rear chicks on the sea-ice, climate change is also damaging their breeding sites too. Unlikely as it might seem, higher temperatures in the Antarctic actually result in increased air moisture and snowfall. For the Adelie penguin this is disastrous, especially as they rely on the ground of the Western Antarctica Peninsula shoreline to be snow-free when rearing their chicks.

Even when Adelie penguins do find safe locations to rear their chicks, the reduction in the number of habitats suitable for raising penguin chicks mean, that the Adelie penguin is having to compete more fiercely with other species of penguin such as the Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins, to ensure the best breeding sites.

2. Reduced food supply

However, it is not just penguins which breed in the Antarctic which are being affected

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