Extract from ABC News
Global experts have gathered at Phillip Island for the 12th International Penguin Conference. (Supplied: Phillip Island Nature Parks)
In short:
Global penguin experts have issued a warning about the threat climate change poses to the species.
The experts also discussed H5 bird flu at a conference on Victoria's Phillip Island.
What's next?
Scientists are calling for sustained long-term research, stronger international collaboration and conservation action to protect the birds.
The world's leading penguin researchers have issued a stark warning about the effects climate change will have on penguin habitats.
The scientists met this week at the 12th International Penguin Conference on Phillip Island, in Victoria's south-east, to discuss the latest research about the seabirds and bird flu management strategies.
At the end of the week-long conference, the researchers released a statement calling for "decisive conservation action" to protect penguins and their habitats.
"When penguins struggle we should pay attention. Their warning is about the health of our oceans and ultimately the health of our planet," the statement said.
"Penguins cannot tell us in words that their world is changing. They are showing us."
Scientists at the conference discussed the latest penguin research and conservation strategies. (Supplied: Phillip Island Nature Parks)
The call to action comes as the United Nations warns the world will breach the 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming benchmark within the next five years.
Penguins under pressure
Phillip Island Nature Parks senior scientist and chair of the conference Andre Chiaradia said penguins were facing a growing combination of pressures.
He said penguins depend on healthy oceans to survive, and changing oceans could affect where penguins feed, when they breed, how they raise their chicks and whether their populations grow or decline.
He said a major concern for penguins was ice shelves melting at a "scary, fast pace".
Andre Chiaradia says there are many challenges facing penguins globally, including climate change. (Supplied: Phillip Island Nature Parks)
"Those places are disappearing, then there's no place for them to breed,"he said.
"Penguins are suffering from a thousand cuts so [bird flu] is just an extra cut on penguins' lives.
"If we do what we can … then we can probably provide a brighter future for penguins."
He said sustainable fisheries, protecting critical feeding and breeding habitats, effective predator management and long-term monitoring could help strengthen the resilience of penguin populations.
Timely event
Phillip Island is home to about 40,000 little penguins, making it the world's largest colony.
This year's conference followed the death in August of a little penguin on the island from H5 bird flu.
So far more than 1,500 penguins have been vaccinated against the disease as part of the government's plan to vaccinate 5,000 of the birds at Phillip Island and St Kilda.
Federation University biological sciences lecturer and speaker at the conference Meagan Dewar said this year's conference was timely.
"It's very important to have so many penguin experts here in the one place as Australia is facing H5N1 outbreaks," she said.
"We have many experts from places that have already experienced this, such as South America and South Africa, and also the Antarctic.
"It's a great time to share knowledge."
Meagan Dewar says it is very important for penguin experts to gather and discuss research methods. (Supplied: Federation University)
Ms Dewar said Australian experts could learn from other countries' experience of monitoring the disease and how they managed outbreaks.
New research ideas
The researchers also discussed the latest technology used to understand and protect penguins, including artificial intelligence and drones.
US geospatial scientist and conference speaker Brett Buzzanga said one of the biggest benefits was the multiplicity of perspectives and the different knowledge each group had.
"There's a shared language, the shared language of science, the shared language of penguin conservation that everyone wants to collaborate with each other regardless of national borders,"Mr Buzzanga said.
Brett Buzzanga speaking at the International Penguin Conference on Phillip Island. (Supplied: Phillip Island Nature Parks)
Mr Buzzanga works with drones equipped with thermal cameras to detect penguins living underground, providing a better picture of penguin populations and how they change over time.
"As with the rest of the world, AI is a big player in being able to classify different images, being able to recognise different patterns in the data," Mr Buzzanga said.
The colony on Phillip Island has about 40,000 birds. (Supplied: Phillip Island Nature Parks)
He said advances in technology allowed researchers to cover much larger areas than they could by hand.
"A lot of the tech unlocks the potential to expand those regions, expand science, expand conservation," Mr Buzzanga said.
"So sharing that with each other, that's the goal."
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