[{"awards": "2535120 Ballard, Grant; 2535122 Bowie, Rauri; 2535124 Varsani, Arvind; 2535121 Cimino, Megan", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-163 -60,-146 -60,-129 -60,-112 -60,-95 -60,-78 -60,-61 -60,-44 -60,-27 -60,-10 -60,-10 -61.8,-10 -63.6,-10 -65.4,-10 -67.2,-10 -69,-10 -70.8,-10 -72.6,-10 -74.4,-10 -76.2,-10 -78,-27 -78,-44 -78,-61 -78,-78 -78,-95 -78,-112 -78,-129 -78,-146 -78,-163 -78,180 -78,175.5 -78,171 -78,166.5 -78,162 -78,157.5 -78,153 -78,148.5 -78,144 -78,139.5 -78,135 -78,135 -76.2,135 -74.4,135 -72.6,135 -70.8,135 -69,135 -67.2,135 -65.4,135 -63.6,135 -61.8,135 -60,139.5 -60,144 -60,148.5 -60,153 -60,157.5 -60,162 -60,166.5 -60,171 -60,175.5 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": null, "datasets": null, "date_created": "Wed, 09 Sep 2026 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Non-technical abstract \r\n\r\nAd\u00e9lie penguins are an early indicator of change in Antarctica. One study population in the Ross Sea is stable or growing, while another near the Antarctic Peninsula is declining quickly, even though both face a warming climate. This project asks a question that matters for conservation and for our broader understanding of how species adapt to environmental change: what allows some penguin populations to cope while others do not? Researchers will follow penguins from the two regions through the parts of their lives that are hardest to observe. Small tracking tags placed on young penguins just before they leave their colonies will reveal where they travel on their first trips to sea and how many survive. Recording devices retrieved from adult penguins will show where and when they molt their feathers and how deep and how often they dive for food through the winter. Blood samples will map how penguins from the two regions are related ancestrally and whether the populations mix regularly. Together these measurements show how each population feeds, travels, and survives, and whether differences in behavior help explain why the two are heading in opposite directions, informing how Antarctic wildlife is understood and protected as the region changes. The tracking and recording devices collect temperature and other ocean data from a remote region during the season when it is most difficult to study, adding to the information available for understanding and managing the Southern Ocean. The project also trains the next generation of polar scientists, supporting a doctoral student and a field apprentice, and it continues long-term monitoring that reaches back decades. Education and public outreach will include \"Live From the Penguins\" video calls and updates on penguin colony and breeding behavior through the PenguinScience.com website and social media.\r\n\r\n\r\nTechnical abstract\r\n\r\nAd\u00e9lie penguins are a key Antarctic mesopredator and a useful model for studying the limits of biological adaptation under rapid environmental change. This two-year project unites two of the longest-running United States Ad\u00e9lie penguin research programs (a stable-to-increasing population in the Ross Sea and a declining population near Palmer Station on the western Antarctic Peninsula) as a natural experiment in adaptive capacity. The work centers on three traits measurable from one intensive field season combined with existing biologging and multi-decadal monitoring data. Satellite-linked transmitters deployed on fledglings before colony departure in both regions will quantify juvenile dispersal routes, habitat use, and at-sea survival. Archival geolocating dive recorders recovered from adults will characterize molt timing and location (sea ice versus land). The same instruments yield year-long dive, light, and temperature profiles, allowing foraging performance and environmental thresholds to be compared across contrasting breeding and wintering regions. A genetic component addresses population structure: whether mitochondrial lineages sort by colony, how genetically contained the Ross Sea population is, and how prevalent the Ross Sea lineage is in the under-sampled Palmer region. Together these provide a framework against which trait differences can be interpreted. A second field season supports instrument retrieval and continued long-term monitoring. The project trains one doctoral student and one field apprentice and extends datasets that reach back decades in both regions.\r\n\r\nThis award reflects NSF\u0027\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": 135.0, "geometry": "POINT(-117.5 -69)", "instruments": "EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e RADIO; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS \u003e PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING \u003e POSITIONING/NAVIGATION \u003e GPS \u003e GPS RECEIVERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e RECORDERS/LOGGERS \u003e GLS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e BINOCULAR; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e CAMERAS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS \u003e PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS \u003e VISUAL OBSERVATIONS", "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Survival Rates; Population Dynamics; FIELD SURVEYS; FIELD INVESTIGATION; UNCREWED AERIAL VEHICLES; Evolutionary Adaptation; Post-Breeding Periods; Antarctica; PELAGIC; SPECIES/POPULATION INTERACTIONS; Migratory Rates/Routes; RADIO TRANSMITTERS; UAV; Use/Feeding Habitats", "locations": "Antarctica", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Lescroel, Amelie; Cimino, Megan; Varsani, Arvind", "platforms": "AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e UNCREWED AERIAL VEHICLES; AIR-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e UNCREWED AERIAL VEHICLES \u003e UAV; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD INVESTIGATION; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS; LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e RADIO TRANSMITTERS", "repositories": null, "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Collaborative Research: Beyond the Black-and-White: Uncovering Hidden Keys to Success in Adelie Penguins", "uid": "p0010584", "west": -10.0}, {"awards": "1935870 Ballard, Grant; 1935901 Dugger, Katie", "bounds_geometry": "POLYGON((-180 -60,-177 -60,-174 -60,-171 -60,-168 -60,-165 -60,-162 -60,-159 -60,-156 -60,-153 -60,-150 -60,-150 -61.8,-150 -63.6,-150 -65.4,-150 -67.2,-150 -69,-150 -70.8,-150 -72.6,-150 -74.4,-150 -76.2,-150 -78,-153 -78,-156 -78,-159 -78,-162 -78,-165 -78,-168 -78,-171 -78,-174 -78,-177 -78,180 -78,178.5 -78,177 -78,175.5 -78,174 -78,172.5 -78,171 -78,169.5 -78,168 -78,166.5 -78,165 -78,165 -76.2,165 -74.4,165 -72.6,165 -70.8,165 -69,165 -67.2,165 -65.4,165 -63.6,165 -61.8,165 -60,166.5 -60,168 -60,169.5 -60,171 -60,172.5 -60,174 -60,175.5 -60,177 -60,178.5 -60,-180 -60))", "dataset_titles": "Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science; P2P 2022-2023 Adelie Penguin Biologging Data", "datasets": [{"dataset_uid": "601444", "doi": "10.15784/601444", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biota; Demography; Mark-Recapture; Monitoring; Penguin; Ross Island", "people": "Ballard, Grant", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601444"}, {"dataset_uid": "601928", "doi": "10.15784/601928", "keywords": "Adelie Penguin; Antarctica; Biologging; Cape Crozier; Cryosphere; Ross Sea", "people": "Schmidt, Annie; Ballard, Grant; Ainley, David", "repository": "USAP-DC", "science_program": null, "title": "P2P 2022-2023 Adelie Penguin Biologging Data", "url": "https://www.usap-dc.org/view/dataset/601928"}], "date_created": "Wed, 12 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT", "description": "Part 1: Non-technical description Polar regions are experiencing some of the most dramatic effects of climate change resulting in large-scale changes in sea ice cover. Despite this, there are relatively few long-term studies on polar species that evaluate the full scope of these effects. Over the last two decades, this team has conducted globally unique demographic studies of Ad\u00e9lie penguins in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to explore several potential mechanisms for population change. This five-year project will use penguin-borne sensors to evaluate foraging conditions and behavior and environmental conditions on early life stages of Ad\u00e9lie penguins. Results will help to better understand population dynamics and how populations might respond to future environmental change. To promote STEM literacy, education and public outreach efforts will include multiple activities. The PenguinCam and PenguinScience.com website (impacts of \u003e1 million hits per month and use by \u003e300 classrooms/~10,000 students) will be continued. Each field season will also have \u2018Live From the Penguins\u2019 Skype calls to classes (~120/season). Classroom-ready activities that are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards will be developed with media products and science journal papers translated to grade 5-8 literacy level. The project will also train early career scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and post-graduate interns. Finally, in partnership with an Environmental Leadership Program, the team will host 2-year Roger Arliner Young Conservation Fellow, which is a program designed to increase opportunities for recent college graduates of color to learn about, engage with, and enter the environmental conservation sector. Part II: Technical description: Leveraging 25 years of data on marked individuals from two Ad\u00e9lie penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, combined with new biologging tags that track detailed penguin foraging efforts and environmental conditions, researchers will accomplish three major goals: 1) assess the quality of natal conditions by determining how environmental conditions, relative prey availability, and diet composition influence parental foraging behavior, chick provisioning, and fledging mass; 2) determine the spatial distribution and foraging behavior of juvenile Ad\u00e9lie penguins and the relative influence of natal versus post-fledging environmental conditions on their survival; and 3) determine the role of natal and post-fledging conditions in shaping individual life history traits and colony growth. Data from several types of penguin-borne biologging devices will be used to provide multiple lines of evidence for how early-life conditions and penguin behavior relate to penguin energetics and population size. This study is the first to integrate salinity, temperature, light level, depth, accelerometry, video loggers, and GPS data with longitudinal demographic information, providing an unprecedented ability to understand how penguins use the environment and enabling new insights from previously collected data. Changes in salinity due to increased glacial melt have important implications for sea ice formation, ocean circulation and productivity of the Southern Ocean, and potentially global temperature change. The penguin-borne sensors deployed in this study will support the NSF Office of Polar Programs priority: How does society more efficiently observe and measure the polar regions? It represents only the second study to track juvenile Ad\u00e9lie penguins at sea, the first in the Ross Sea region, the first with substantial sample sizes, and the first to assess juvenile survival rates directly, integrating early life factors and environmental conditions to better understand colony growth trajectories. This award reflects NSF\u0027s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation\u0027s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.", "east": -150.0, "geometry": "POINT(-172.5 -69)", "instruments": null, "is_usap_dc": true, "keywords": "Ross Island; AMD; MARINE ECOSYSTEMS; Amd/Us; Adelie Penguin; USAP-DC; USA/NSF; FIELD SURVEYS", "locations": "Ross Island", "north": -60.0, "nsf_funding_programs": "Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems; Antarctic Organisms and Ecosystems", "paleo_time": null, "persons": "Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Varsani, Arvind; Dugger, Katie; Orben, Rachael; Lescroel, Amelie", "platforms": "LAND-BASED PLATFORMS \u003e FIELD SITES \u003e FIELD SURVEYS", "repo": "USAP-DC", "repositories": "USAP-DC", "science_programs": null, "south": -78.0, "title": "Population Growth at the Southern Extreme: Effects of Early Life Conditions on Adelie penguin Individuals and Colonies", "uid": "p0010179", "west": 165.0}]

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Collaborative Research: Beyond the Black-and-White: Uncovering Hidden Keys to Success in Adelie Penguins

2535120
2535122
2535124
2535121

2026-09-09

Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Lescroel, Amelie; Cimino, Megan; Varsani, Arvind

No dataset link provided

Non-technical abstract Adélie penguins are an early indicator of change in Antarctica. One study population in the Ross Sea is stable or growing, while another near the Antarctic Peninsula is declining quickly, even though both face a warming climate. This project asks a question that matters for conservation and for our broader understanding of how species adapt to environmental change: what allows some penguin populations to cope while others do not? Researchers will follow penguins from the two regions through the parts of their lives that are hardest to observe. Small tracking tags placed on young penguins just before they leave their colonies will reveal where they travel on their first trips to sea and how many survive. Recording devices retrieved from adult penguins will show where and when they molt their feathers and how deep and how often they dive for food through the winter. Blood samples will map how penguins from the two regions are related ancestrally and whether the populations mix regularly. Together these measurements show how each population feeds, travels, and survives, and whether differences in behavior help explain why the two are heading in opposite directions, informing how Antarctic wildlife is understood and protected as the region changes. The tracking and recording devices collect temperature and other ocean data from a remote region during the season when it is most difficult to study, adding to the information available for understanding and managing the Southern Ocean. The project also trains the next generation of polar scientists, supporting a doctoral student and a field apprentice, and it continues long-term monitoring that reaches back decades. Education and public outreach will include "Live From the Penguins" video calls and updates on penguin colony and breeding behavior through the PenguinScience.com website and social media. Technical abstract Adélie penguins are a key Antarctic mesopredator and a useful model for studying the limits of biological adaptation under rapid environmental change. This two-year project unites two of the longest-running United States Adélie penguin research programs (a stable-to-increasing population in the Ross Sea and a declining population near Palmer Station on the western Antarctic Peninsula) as a natural experiment in adaptive capacity. The work centers on three traits measurable from one intensive field season combined with existing biologging and multi-decadal monitoring data. Satellite-linked transmitters deployed on fledglings before colony departure in both regions will quantify juvenile dispersal routes, habitat use, and at-sea survival. Archival geolocating dive recorders recovered from adults will characterize molt timing and location (sea ice versus land). The same instruments yield year-long dive, light, and temperature profiles, allowing foraging performance and environmental thresholds to be compared across contrasting breeding and wintering regions. A genetic component addresses population structure: whether mitochondrial lineages sort by colony, how genetically contained the Ross Sea population is, and how prevalent the Ross Sea lineage is in the under-sampled Palmer region. Together these provide a framework against which trait differences can be interpreted. A second field season supports instrument retrieval and continued long-term monitoring. The project trains one doctoral student and one field apprentice and extends datasets that reach back decades in both regions. This award reflects NSF''s statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation''s intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

Population Growth at the Southern Extreme: Effects of Early Life Conditions on Adelie penguin Individuals and Colonies

1935870
1935901

2021-05-12

Ballard, Grant; Schmidt, Annie; Varsani, Arvind; Dugger, Katie; Orben, Rachael; Lescroel, Amelie

Adelie penguin resighting data 1997-2021 from the California Avian Data Center hosted by Point Reyes Bird Observatory Conservation Science	USAP-DC
P2P 2022-2023 Adelie Penguin Biologging Data	USAP-DC

Part 1: Non-technical description Polar regions are experiencing some of the most dramatic effects of climate change resulting in large-scale changes in sea ice cover. Despite this, there are relatively few long-term studies on polar species that evaluate the full scope of these effects. Over the last two decades, this team has conducted globally unique demographic studies of Adélie penguins in the Ross Sea, Antarctica, to explore several potential mechanisms for population change. This five-year project will use penguin-borne sensors to evaluate foraging conditions and behavior and environmental conditions on early life stages of Adélie penguins. Results will help to better understand population dynamics and how populations might respond to future environmental change. To promote STEM literacy, education and public outreach efforts will include multiple activities. The PenguinCam and PenguinScience.com website (impacts of >1 million hits per month and use by >300 classrooms/~10,000 students) will be continued. Each field season will also have ‘Live From the Penguins’ Skype calls to classes (~120/season). Classroom-ready activities that are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards will be developed with media products and science journal papers translated to grade 5-8 literacy level. The project will also train early career scientists, postdoctoral scholars, graduate students and post-graduate interns. Finally, in partnership with an Environmental Leadership Program, the team will host 2-year Roger Arliner Young Conservation Fellow, which is a program designed to increase opportunities for recent college graduates of color to learn about, engage with, and enter the environmental conservation sector. Part II: Technical description: Leveraging 25 years of data on marked individuals from two Adélie penguin colonies in the Ross Sea, combined with new biologging tags that track detailed penguin foraging efforts and environmental conditions, researchers will accomplish three major goals: 1) assess the quality of natal conditions by determining how environmental conditions, relative prey availability, and diet composition influence parental foraging behavior, chick provisioning, and fledging mass; 2) determine the spatial distribution and foraging behavior of juvenile Adélie penguins and the relative influence of natal versus post-fledging environmental conditions on their survival; and 3) determine the role of natal and post-fledging conditions in shaping individual life history traits and colony growth. Data from several types of penguin-borne biologging devices will be used to provide multiple lines of evidence for how early-life conditions and penguin behavior relate to penguin energetics and population size. This study is the first to integrate salinity, temperature, light level, depth, accelerometry, video loggers, and GPS data with longitudinal demographic information, providing an unprecedented ability to understand how penguins use the environment and enabling new insights from previously collected data. Changes in salinity due to increased glacial melt have important implications for sea ice formation, ocean circulation and productivity of the Southern Ocean, and potentially global temperature change. The penguin-borne sensors deployed in this study will support the NSF Office of Polar Programs priority: How does society more efficiently observe and measure the polar regions? It represents only the second study to track juvenile Adélie penguins at sea, the first in the Ross Sea region, the first with substantial sample sizes, and the first to assess juvenile survival rates directly, integrating early life factors and environmental conditions to better understand colony growth trajectories. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

USAP-DC