Reliability of flipper-banded penguins as indicators of climate change

Claire Saraux (), Céline Le Bohec, Joël M. Durant, Vincent A. Viblanc, Michel Gauthier-Clerc, David Beaune, Young-Hyang Park, Nigel G. Yoccoz, Nils C. Stenseth and Yvon Le Maho ()
Additional contact information
Claire Saraux: Université de Strasbourg, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087 Strasbourg, France
Céline Le Bohec: Université de Strasbourg, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087 Strasbourg, France
Joël M. Durant: Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway
Vincent A. Viblanc: Université de Strasbourg, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087 Strasbourg, France
Michel Gauthier-Clerc: Centre de Recherche de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, 13200 Arles, France
David Beaune: Université de Strasbourg, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087 Strasbourg, France
Young-Hyang Park: USM 0402/LOCEAN, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, 75231 Paris, France
Nigel G. Yoccoz: University of Tromsø, N-9037 Tromsø, Norway
Nils C. Stenseth: Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, PO Box 1066, Blindern, N-0316 Oslo, Norway
Yvon Le Maho: Université de Strasbourg, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, 23 rue Becquerel, 67087 Strasbourg, France

Nature, 2011, vol. 469, issue 7329, 203-206

Abstract: Flipper-banding a threat to penguins For decades, the standard practice for studying penguins — well established as bellwethers of climate change — has been to tag the birds with flipper bands. It is a controversial technique, however, with conflicting reports on whether the tags themselves can alter the birds' behaviour. Now, the results of a ten-year study of free-ranging king penguins provide convincing evidence that banding is harmful. Banded birds had a markedly lower survival rate, with every major life-history trait affected, and they were more affected by climate variation than birds without bands. As well as raising doubts over marine ecosystem data based on banding, this work has implications for the ethics of animal tagging.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09630

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