Jason D. Whittington

King penguin demography since the last glaciation inferred from genome-wide data.

How natural climate cycles, such as past glacial/interglacial patterns, have shaped species distributions at the high-latitude regions of the Southern Hemisphere is still largely unclear. Here, we show how the post-glacial warming following the Last Glacial Maximum (ca 18 000 years ago), allowed the (re)colonization of the fragmented sub-Antarctic habitat by an upper-level marine predator, the king penguin Aptenodytes patagonicus. Using restriction site-associated DNA sequencing and standard mitochondrial data, we tested the behaviour of subsets of anonymous nuclear loci in inferring past demography through coalescent-based and allele frequency spectrum analyses. Our results show that the king penguin population breeding on Crozet archipelago steeply increased in size, closely following the Holocene warming recorded in the Epica Dome C ice core. The following population growth can be explained by a threshold model in which the ecological requirements of this species (year-round ice-free habitat for breeding and access to a major source of food such as the Antarctic Polar Front) were met on Crozet soon after the Pleistocene/Holocene climatic transition.

Rovers minimize human disturbance in research on wild animals

Investigating wild animals while minimizing human disturbance remains an important methodological challenge. When approached by a remote-operated vehicle (rover) which can be equipped to make radio-frequency identifications, wild penguins had significantly lower and shorter stress responses (determined by heart rate and behavior) than when approached by humans. Upon immobilization, the rover—unlike humans—did not disorganize colony structure, and stress rapidly ceased. Thus, rovers can reduce human disturbance of wild animals and the resulting scientific bias.

Antarctica and the strategic plan for biodiversity

The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity, adopted under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, provides the basis for taking effective action to curb biodiversity loss across the planet by 2020—an urgent imperative. Yet, Antarctica and the Southern Ocean, which encompass 10% of the planet’s surface, are excluded from assessments of progress against the Strategic Plan. The situation is a lost opportunity for biodiversity conservation globally. We provide such an assessment. Our evidence suggests, surprisingly, that for a region so remote and apparently pristine as the Antarctic, the biodiversity outlook is similar to that for the rest of the planet. Promisingly, however, much scope for remedial action exists.

Spatial heterogeneity as a genetic mixing mechanism in highly philopatric colonial seabirds.

How genetic diversity is maintained in philopatric colonial systems remains unclear, and understanding the dynamic balance of philopatry and dispersal at all spatial scales is essential to the study of the evolution of coloniality. In the King penguin, Aptenodytes patagonicus, return rates of post-fledging chicks to their natal sub-colony are remarkably high. Empirical studies have shown that adults return year after year to their previous breeding territories within a radius of a few meters. Yet, little reliable data are available on intra- and inter-colonial dispersal in this species. Here, we present the first fine-scale study of the genetic structure in a king penguin colony in the Crozet Archipelago. Samples were collected from individual chicks and analysed at 8 microsatellite loci. Precise geolocation data of hatching sites and selective pressures associated with habitat features were recorded for all sampling locations. We found that despite strong natal and breeding site fidelity, king penguins retain a high degree of panmixia and genetic diversity. Yet, genetic structure appears markedly heterogeneous across the colony, with higher-than-expected inbreeding levels, and local inbreeding and relatedness hotspots that overlap predicted higher-quality nesting locations. This points towards heterogeneous population structure at the sub-colony level, in which fine-scale environmental features drive local philopatric behaviour, while lower-quality patches may act as genetic mixing mechanisms at the colony level. These findings show how a lack of global genetic structuring can emerge from small-scale heterogeneity in ecological parameters, as opposed to the classical model of homogeneous dispersal. Our results also emphasize the importance of sampling design for estimation of population parameters in colonial seabirds, as at high spatial resolution, basic genetic features are shown to be location-dependent. Finally, this study stresses the importance of understanding intra-colonial dispersal and genetic mixing mechanisms in order to better estimate species-wide gene flows and population dynamics.

Trends in marine climate change research in the Nordic region since the first IPCC report

Oceans are exposed to anthropogenic climate change shifting marine systems toward potential instabilities. The physical, biological and social implications of such shifts can be assessed within individual scientific disciplines, but can only be fully understood by combining knowledge and expertise across disciplines. For climate change related problems these research directions have been well-established since the publication of the first IPCC report in 1990, however it is not well-documented to what extent these directions are reflected in published research. Focusing on the Nordic region, we evaluated the development of climate change related marine science by quantifying trends in number of publications, disciplinarity, and scientific focus of 1362 research articles published between 1990 and 2011. Our analysis showed a faster increase in publications within climate change related marine science than in general marine science indicating a growing prioritisation of research with a climate change focus. The composition of scientific disciplines producing climate change related publications, which initially was dominated by physical sciences, shifted toward a distribution with almost even representation of physical and biological sciences with social sciences constituting a minor constant proportion. These trends suggest that the predominantly model-based directions of the IPCC have favoured the more quantitatively oriented natural sciences rather than the qualitative traditions of social sciences. In addition, despite being an often declared prerequisite to successful climate science, we found surprisingly limited progress in implementing interdisciplinary research indicating that further initiatives nurturing scientific interactions are required.

Polar Monitoring: Seabirds as Sentinels of Marine Ecosystems

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) has highlighted an urgent need to assess how ecosystems respond to climate change. This has placed a large Earth and Life Sciences focus on polar regions, as these areas are so far experiencing the strongest and the most rapid global environmental changes.

Framing planetary health: arguing for resource-centred science

www.thelancet.com/planetary-health Vol 2 March 2018 e101 Nature’s goods and services are assets that shape human history, socioeconomic systems, and geopolitics. They are the ultimate foundation of life and health, the substance of human rights. Humans are, individually and collectively, resource driven. However, humans frame resources incorrectly. Namely, governance systems underestimate the fact that economic and social development has been achieved through the unsustainable management of resources. They also create profitable scarcities and resource overexploitation leading to social inequity and environmental degradation and are not equipped to handle challenges such as the implementation and accountability of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) because resource governance across sectors and institutions does not exist. Yet, 13 of the 17 SDGs make resources the measure of equitable and sustainable development in social, economic, political, cultural, and environmental terms. We postulate that a resource-centred approach is the most parsimonious instrument to implement the SDGs while safeguarding the integrity of Earth’s ecosystems. This approach is important because the major mutually enforcing stressors on public health and natural resources are (over)consumption coupled with socioeconomic inequalities, concentration of economic and financial dominance to drive political decision, and institutional inertia, enforced by inadequate norms and poor accountability and transparency. To act on these determinants, radical changes in resource governance and allocation must consider longterm socioecological threats via the inclusive planetary health concept, integrating the “health of human civilisation and the state of the natural systems on which it depends”. A reframed resource governance should consider the life-supporting capacities of ecosystems, population dynamics, and consumption patterns in given territories as well as basic human rights and duties. A resource-centred science can facilitate the design of a systems approach toward an integrated resource stewardship operating across disciplines and resource user groups. This approach will provide decision makers with sound scientific evidence and facts, making clear that the principle of sustainability is not compatible with the policy and politics that subordinate the health of humans and natural systems to short-term economic goals. It will also contribute to a better understanding of the limits imposed by the finite world and by defining means to reconcile human needs with available resources. To that end, the resource-centred science has two requirements. First, a permanent alliance between natural sciences and legal and political studies is needed to integrate and articulate normative and legal instruments that provide fair access to resources for all, impose accountability of resource overuse and degradation, and help to achieve sustainable levels of resource use. For example, these objectives can lead to new forms of education, training, and practices that mobilise universities, other organisations and institutions, and resource user groups. Second, tools are needed to analyse, quantify, and simulate at different scales the matching between societal demand (expressed in satisfaction of basic needs) and sustainable supply (expressed in the fair access to resources and the true capacity to preserve lifesupporting functions and services of the ecosystems). For example, natural capital accounting tools exploit (near) real-time environmental and socioeconomic data streams measuring ecological values and degradation (such as land use changes, ecosystem services, or planetary boundaries) and associated health effects and costs. The challenge is to incorporate these indicators into GDP-centred national accounting systems and into policy decision making. Resource-centred science rests on a framework assembling three simple universal principles with the imperative of natural resource stewardship and fair allocation, and the inclusive planetary health concept. The principles promote human rights and duties and build upon the inclusive UN Economic and Social Framing planetary health: arguing for resource-centred science

When is a fish stock collapsed

Marine fish stock collapses are a major concern for scientists and society due to the potentially severe impacts on ecosystem resilience, food security and livelihoods. Yet the general state of harvested fish populations has proven difficult to summarize, and the actual occurrence rate of stock collapses remains unclear. We have carried out a literature review and multi-stock analysis to show that numerous definitions exist for classifying stocks as collapsed, and that the classification of a stock’s status is sensitive to changes in the collapse definition’s formulation. We suggest that the lack of a unified definition has contributed to contrasting perceptions on the state of fish stocks. Therefore, we comprehensively define what constitutes a fish stock collapse and provide a time-series based method for collapse detection. Unlike existing definitions, our definition is process-based, because it links together three important phases of collapse events: the abrupt decline, an ensuing period of prolonged depletion, and potential recovery. Furthermore, these phases are specified in terms of population turnover. Through systematic evaluation, our definition can accurately distinguish collapses from less severe depletions or natural fluctuations for stocks with diverse life histories, helping identify the stocks in greatest need of reparatory measures. Our study advocates the consistent use of definitions to limit both alarmist and conservative narratives on the state of fish stocks, and to promote cooperation between conservation and fisheries scientists. This will facilitate clear and accurate communication of science to both the public and to policy-makers to ensure healthy fish stocks in the future.