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Between 1992 and 2018, the breeding population of Adélie penguins around Anvers Island, Antarctica declined by 98%. In this region, natural climate variability drives five‐year cycling in marine phytoplankton productivity, leading to phase‐offset five‐year cycling in the size of the krill population. We demonstrate that the rate of change of the Adélie breeding population also shows five‐year cycling. We link this population response to cyclical krill scarcity, a phenomenon which appears to have arisen from the interaction between climate variability and climate change trends. Modeling suggests that, since at least 1980, natural climate variability has driven cycling in this marine system. However, anthropogenic climate change has shifted conditions so that fewer years in each cycle now prompt strong krill recruitment, triggering intervals of krill scarcity that result in drastic declines in Adélie penguins. Our results imply that climate change can amplify the impacts of natural climate oscillations across trophic levels, driving cycling across species and disrupting food webs. The findings indicate that climate variability plays an integral role in driving ecosystem dynamics under climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A high-resolution record of Eocene paleotemperature variation is preserved within the high southern latitude, marine shelf succession of the La Meseta Formation on Seymour Island, off the NE side of the Antarctic Peninsula. 87Sr/86Sr ratios of bivalve shell carbonate indicate that the La Meseta Formation spans virtually the entire Eocene, and suggest the presence of an early middle Eocene unconformity. Paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic inferences are based on the stable oxygen and carbon isotope values of two genera of bivalves collected with a high degree of stratigraphic resolution within the formation, and with multiple replicate samples from each horizon. δ18O data indicate roughly 10°C of cooling from the early Eocene climatic optimum (~15 °C) through the end of the Eocene (minimum ~5 °C), much of which took place in two comparatively short intervals at ca. 52 and ca. 41 Ma. Many features of the isotope curves generated from this Eocene shelf section are apparent in δ18O and δ13C data from the Southern and global oceans, including warm intervals that likely correspond to the early and middle Eocene climatic optima (EECO and MECO). A rapid middle Eocene shift to much more positive values is the most significant in the section and reflects a drop to universally cooler temperatures in the late middle and late Eocene that might also be associated with a short-lived glacial advance. However, even using a somewhat depleted value for δ18O of seawater in the Antarctic peninsular region, average Seymour Island shelf-water paleotemperatures did not reach freezing before the end of the Eocene. δ13C data similarly reflect the documented middle Eocene surface ocean enrichment followed by more negative values, but depletion is much more pronounced on Seymour Island and persists for the remainder of the Eocene, suggesting a combination of upwelling, metabolic effects, and/or atypical carbon cycling on the shelf in this region. Isotope data capture information about changes in the paleoenvironment that also had consequences for the biota, as published paleontological records document marked change in the nature of terrestrial and marine biota at this time. The fact that middle Eocene cooling and biotic turnover in the Peninsular region correspond well in time to the proposed initial opening of Drake Passage suggests that the formation of gateways, in addition to changes in pCO2, had significant consequences for the Earth's climate system during the Paleogene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: 87Sr/86Sr measurements were carried out on samples of various macrofossil taxa recovered from the SMS AND-2A core with the main goal of improving age control of the core, and provide insight on marine climate at the time of carbonate precipitation. Shell material was carefully screened using cathodoluminescence (CL) to discern optimum areas for microdrilling. Powders thus obtained were in addition analyzed for Ca, Mg, Sr, Mn, and Fe contents to further evaluate the possibility of diagenetic alteration of the skeletal carbonate before measuring their Sr isotope compositions. Bivalves turned out to be the best candidates for isotopic determinations. Unaltered calcitic bivalves produced reliable 87Sr/86Sr age ranges. Aragonitic material, on the other hand, produced less radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr than anticipated, an unexpected result. Preliminary oxygen isotope determinations in calcite samples confirm contrasting marine climate conditions between the late Early Miocene (16.5–16.0 Ma), and the early Late Miocene (~11 Ma). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]