Digging up the past: The impact of life-history traits on royal penguin (<i>Eudyptes schlegeli</i>) population dynamics

Project aim

We propose to analyse a unique historical database collected over 17 years from 1956-1972 examining the survival and reproductive success of the endemic royal penguin from Macquarie Island. This vulnerable species is a key higher-level predator in the Southern Ocean ecosystem that will give insights into global climate change that has occurred in this region over the last 50 years. Here, historical conditions in the Southern Ocean environment are translated into penguin survival and reproductive output. Our analysis will give insight into how small populations of Antarctic predators can cope with onslaught of future climate and oceanographic changes.