Coping with environmental change in king penguins: physiological and behavioral adaptations and limits

The earth’s environment is changing at an unprecedented rate and the effects of global change are even stronger in what used to be pristine ecosystems, such as polar ecosystems. Understanding to what extent polar animals, and especially penguins, are resilient to current changes requires a dual approach. On one hand, demographic monitoring of penguin populations enables critical insights into the mechanisms affecting the population dynamics of these emblematic species. On the other hand, detailed knowledge of individual physiological and behavioral responses and adaptations (and their limitations) to cope with their unique environments (a life shared between periods at sea and on-land) is needed to understand and predict if, and to what, extent individuals and populations will be able to cope (or not) with environmental change.
The ECONERGY #119 polar project has a long history in understanding the intricacies of king penguin ecophysiology and behavior, and the extent to which physiological and behavioral responses provide adaptive responses to the environment (https://ipev119.wixsite.com/econergie119). The ECONERGY2 #1324 project aims to continue part of the work initiated by the #119 project (who is now a long-term observatory only), to better understand the environmental constraints faced by king penguin on land, and the extent to which behavioral and physiological responses will enable king penguin populations to cope (or not) with environmental change. Specifically, the increasing frequency of terrestrial ‘heat waves’ may pose serious issues to king penguins, both from a thermoregulatory perspective and from a hydric regulation perspective. The 4-year project we are proposing will investigate: 1. The risk for king penguins to suffer from heat stress while molting on land, 2. The risks for king penguins to suffer from dehydration while breeding or molting on land, 3. The potential strategy adopted at sea to maximize hydration status before coming back on land, 4. The potential critical role that soil humidity may play in determining heat stress occurrence, and 5. The potential sensitivity of king penguin bioenergetics to high operating temperatures compared to other sub-polar but also temperate avian species.
Such an integrative project mixing both correlative and experimental approaches in the wild is crucial to fully grasp the threats that king penguin populations are facing in the context of rapid environmental changes, and to better predict the future fate of this species based on its physiological and behavioral responses to environmental constraints.