The counting of the Adelie penguins, and why it matters

MILLBROOK — The temperature was frigid outside of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies on Friday, Feb. 8. It was much warmer inside, but the images on the screen didn’t do much to warm the audience — they were pictures of the Adelie penguins in their frigid habitats.

While most people seem to like penguins, and pictures of penguins toddling around in snow and ice, the program, presented by professor Heather Lynch, of Stony Brook University, wasn’t about the penguins as much as it was about how scientists are able to study them. That information is used to determine the head counts of the penguins in Antarctica, specifically the Adelie penguin, which is found along the coast of Antarctica.

The advent of new technology has greatly increased man’s ability to study all kinds of wildlife, and the penguin is no exception. Using data from satellites, some of it obtained through the use of drones, much information can be gathered. The imagery from outer space is combined with the usual ground-level field work, and it’s amazing how accurate new information can be.

It’s not that the machines pick up pictures and scientists sit at desks and try to count each penguin, no, that’s not how it’s done. Surprisingly, it is the waste that the penguins leave, guano, which is pink, that tells the tale of population. By determining the area of waste, scientists can calculate how many penguins were responsible for the waste, and therefore how many penguins are in each colony. 

The importance of this and other studies can’t be over emphasized, as the study of some of the last wildernesses in the world is pertinent to how the planet is surviving, if it can survive, and how certain species are doing. There can be implications that can alert scientists to impending threats to the delicate balance of the Antarctic ecosystem

Lynch also discussed how using new technology, predictive modeling and other forms of artificial intelligence can be instrumental in forming policy to protect some of the last frontiers of wildlife. Her team is a NASA-funded team. 

Lynch is an associate professor with the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook’s Institute for Advanced Computational Science. She directs field research, which serves as a basis for her research in remote sensing, computing and statistics. Lynch has an AB in physics from Princeton, an MA in physics from Harvard and also from Harvard, a PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology.

From everything that is known about climate change, many might expect the Adelie penguin to be doing poorly. Not at all. The animals are holding their own and even improving their numbers.

It’s to be hoped that through programs such as those at the Cary, at universities and scientific strongholds around the country, that not only will the Adelie penguin population continue to thrive, but that other species in Antarctica and around the world will also survive and grow. 

The Cary Institute presents many programs on ecology and science informing people how to help, often as Friday Night at Cary events. Recently there have been programs on Monarch butterflies, and an upcoming program will discuss snow leopards, and what can be done to protect them.

Friday Night at Cary is free, open to the public and advocates for ecological studies to preserve the flora and fauna, and nature in all areas of the world. For more information, go to  www.caryinstitute.com or call 845-677-7600.