Habitat and Geography

Antarctica is one of the few places in the world that organisms can still be observed in their natural habitat, unmodified by humans.  The data collected from these observations is thought to show human and natural impacts on the marine ecosystem.

  Pygoscelis adeliae is able to live in extremely low temperatures; this species is only found in the Antarctic region and the surrounding area, but have no specific home range nor defend a territory outside of their nest site.

   Pygoscelis adeliae are most abundant in the Ross Sea Region, which is home to thirty-eight colonies and over five million individuals.  This massive colonization of this species has held true recorded as much as 45,000 years ago.

    Krill is Adélie penguins’ main food source and the Adélie species tends to follow the food.  Krill feed on plankton, which lives underneath ice.  This explains the penguins migration near the large coastal ice platforms, but during *breeding season they migrate to warmer locations that provide them with ice-free terrain to build their nests on and easy access to open waters for food.

*breeding range: Antarctica, South Shetlands, South Orkneys, Bouvet, Ballenly and Peter Island