Centuries ago, when penguins were first encountered by European explorers, they were not thought to be birds but rather a fish-like relative. Subsequent accumulation of knowledge has shown penguins to be an avian species with unrivaled aquatic attributes, owing to a number of evolutionary adaptations: shape change, low drag, ability to regulate buoyancy, and extraordinary surface compliancy from their featheration. They are indeed the most extremely specialized diving bird, having given up flight (which otherwise is hugely advantageous) to the benefit of underwater prowess (such as speed, maneuverability and an ability to exploit an extraordinary range of depths). This flightlessness, however, also comes with costs that are substantial for a seabird (such as the inability to cover large distances quickly in reaction to ephemeral prey); and the energy needed to cope with moving through an aqueous environment, which is more resistant than air. For penguins, the high energetic costs inexploiting the ocean environment thus makes them especially sensitive to changes in food availability or their access to their prey.

While a number of penguin books cover the natural history, mainly of breeding aspects, few address in much detail the incredible aquatic nature of these creatures. A huge amount of information has been amassed over recent past decades thanks to dramatic advances in microelectronics, bio-logging and maturation of some long-term studies of penguin life history. This work represents an integration of all these data with charts, maps and graphs, along with richly illustrated photos by experts in the field.

First summary of the foraging ecology and marine lives of penguins Comparative analysis and summary of the available marine-related literature on penguins Perspective of penguins as bellwethers of the health of marine ecosystems

Autorentext
David Ainley has studied the upper trophic level dynamics of marine ecosystems for more than 40 years, and is a world-recognized expert on Adélie penguins. He has been on committees of the National Research Council to evaluate national environmental programs, was a member of the Marine Mammal Commission (Committee of Scientific Advisors) and state and international fisheries commissions, and has represented U.S. interests in various polar initiatives. Most recently, he initiated efforts that led to designation of the Ross Sea Region Marine Protected Area within international waters of the Southern Ocean. In addition, he has served as program head for meetings of the Western Field Ornithologists, Pacific Climate Conference, Pacific Seabird Group, American Ornithologists Union, Cooper Ornithological Society, American Geophysical Union, and Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research. He has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Seabird Group, and in 2022 was awarded the Ralph W. Schreiber Conservation Award by the American Ornithological Societies. He has been Editor-in-Chief of Marine Ornithology for the past 10 years.
Rory Wilson is a professor in zoology within the department of biosciences at Swansea University, Wales, UK. He too, has been actively working with penguins for more than 40 years with understanding their marine ecology being his primary research thrust. His work involves developing and using new methods, particularly animal-attached tags, to study the behavioral ecology of enigmatic animals that are, otherwise, difficult to study. He has worked with ten penguin species but has also been involved in work in Africa, both Americas, Antarctica, Australia, the far- and middle East and Europe, with animals as diverse as albatrosses, armadillos, badgers, cheetahs, condors, sharks and sloths. He was bestowed a Rolex Award for Enterprise in 2006 for his animal tag developments. He was chief scientific consultant for Nat Geös highly acclaimed 7-part series, `Great Migrations , is listed in the top 50 conservationists in the BBC power list and is a Fellow of both the Learned Society of Wales and of Academia Europaea

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PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.- SECTION I IN THE BEGINNING .- CHAPTER 1. WADING IN INTRODUCTION TO THE FISH-BIRD.- General Discussion of Penguins and Substance of the Book.- An Impressive Number of Penguin Species: Evolution of Their Unique Capabilities.- Penguin Species Radiation and the Ontogeny of Their Watery World.- Penguin Evolution: Body Size and Climate.- Penguin Evolution: Radiation into Vacant Niches.- Penguin Evolution: Body Size and Crossing the Sea-Land Boundary.- CHAPTER 2. LAND AHOY! A TIRESOME BUSINESS.- Crossing the Land-Ocean Interface is Affected by Body Size.- Why and How Often do Penguins Come Ashore?.- Tying Land-life to the At-sea Life of Fish-Birds: Foraging and Breeding.- Success Vary with Prey Availability.- Molt Necessary, Brief Respite from the Sea.- SECTION II PENGUIN MARINE HAUNTS AND FOOD HABITS .- CHAPTER 3.FISH-BIRDS AT HOME IN THEIR OCEAN HABITATS.- Oceanographic Fronts and Water Masses Important to Penguins: General Discussion.- Penguins Require High Productivity Water Masses.- Large Scale: Oceanographic Boundaries and At-sea Distributions of Penguins.- Southern Boundary of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current.- Emperor and King penguins.- Adélie and Chinstrap penguins.- Antarctic Polar Front and Subantarctic Front.- Gentoo and Yellow-eyed penguins.- Macaroni and Royal penguins.- Northern and Southern Rockhopper, Fiordland, Snares penguins.- Subtropical Front and Continental Boundary Currents.- Galápagos, Humboldt, Magellanic, African penguins.- Little penguins.- Meso- and Small-Scale Ocean Processes Facilitating Penguin Exploits.- Island wakes.- Headland wakes.- Shelves and banks.- Submarine canyons.- Shelfbreak fronts.- Marginal ice zones.- Thermo-/haloclines.- CHAPTER 4. SEA FOOD THE FISH-BIRD MENU.- General Considerations.- Diet Quality: Survival in Cold Water.- Energy density of prey.- Prey size may or may not differ by penguin size.- Prey availability.- Diet Comparison among Penguin Species.- Polar/subpolar, mesopelagic penguins.- Subpolar, demersal/benthic, continental-shelf penguins.- Temperate, upper water column, continental-insular shelf penguins.- Polar, upper water column, continental shelf/slope penguins.- Subpolar, upper water column, continental slope/pelagic penguins.- Polar, upper water column, continental slope/pelagic penguins.- CHAPTER 5. ECOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF DIET COMPOSITION.- Intraspecific Competition among Penguins.- Foraging Range is Key: General Discussion.- Penguin Species' Central-Place Foraging Range Patterns.- Sex Differences in Foraging.- Interspecific Competition Involving Penguins.- Penguins Eat A lot!.- Competition between Penguin Species.- Competition between penguins and other seabirds.- Competition between penguins and marine mammals.- Competition between penguins and industrial fisheries.- SECTION III THE HARDWARE OF A FISH-BIRD .- ** CHAPTER 6. THE SLIPPERY SHAPE,HOT AIR AND THE POWERHOUSE HOW FISH-BIRDS SWIM.- Water Hard Taskmaster.- The Four Forces Relevant to Penguins.- Vertical Forces Weight and Upthrust.- Buoyancy: How Much Air Do Penguins Hold?.- Buoyancy and Bergmann's Rule revisited.- Horizontal Forces: Drag.- The Interplay of Drag and Upthrust in Gliding Penguins.- The Drag Devil is in the Detail.- The Penguin Powerhouse.- How Penguins Swim.- The Effect of Upthrust and Body Angle on Penguin Thrust and Lift Forces.- Top Speeds; Power and Upthrust.- The Energy Costs of Swimming.- General considerations.- Specific considerations.- 'Sensible' Swim Strategies and Costs of Transport.- Cruising speed and integrating speed with the cost of transport,.- and beyond.- CHAPTER 7. HOT PENGUINS COLD WATER.- Resting and Floating Penguins.- The Metabolic Rate of Floating Penguins.- Patterns of Heat Loss to the Sea.- Overall Body Insulation/Conductance.- The Nature of Penguin Insulation.- Active Penguins.- Activity Produces …