1. Antarctica II Stuff you might not know about life on (and around) the frozen continent

2. Terrestrial animals Tardigrade Rotifer Mite Springtail Nematode

3. Belgica antarctica – the Antarctic Midge

4. Truly weird habitats  Lake Vostok

5. Adelie penguin  Animalia; Chordata; Aves  Sphenisciformes; Spheniscidae  Pygoscelis adeliae Dumont d’Urville (1790-1842)

6. Adelie Penguin colonies  500 – 250,000 individuals

7. Adult Adelie penguins  Males arrive, build ‘nest’, compete for mates  Competition for stones  Females arrive, lay egg, share incubation with male (although she often disappears for 10 days at a time!)  Incubation and feeding shared

8. Life cycle of an Adelie Penguin  Hatch, eat and eat and eat…

9. Life cycle of an Adelie Penguin  Hatch, eat and eat and eat…  Get REALLY BIG  Nests break down and chicks form Creches  Chick goes through rebellious teen years, moults and goes to sea for 1-3 years, coming ashore only to moult once a year

10. Thermal issues  Water is cold!  Ice is cold!  Nest is cold!  Air is cold (but doesn’t dissipate heat easily)

11. Predators and mortality  Leopard seals (in water)  Skuas (of chicks and eggs)  ~95% mortality between fledging and first reproduction Life history consequences

12. Links to the ocean  Colony sites are all on ice-free ground near open water Changes in availability of ice = changes in number of colonies Walking to reach water = very expensive Change in diet during season If fishery crashes, so do the penguins

13. Penguins track the environment The Adelie Penguin: Bellwether of climate change David Ainley

14. Why don’t fish freeze? Water temperature?

15. Why don’t fish freeze?  Seawater temperature: -1.86 °C  Melting point of body fluids: -0.6 °C

16. Why don’t fish freeze?  Fish are regularly in contact with ice

17. Why don’t fish freeze?  The freezing point is not the same as the melting point “Thermal Hysteresis”  Antifreeze proteins Arthur L. De Vries

18. Why don’t fish freeze?  Antifreeze proteins Made in the pancreas Circulate throughout body fluids Prevent ice crystals in the fish from growing