Professor Michelle LaRue studies Emperor Penguins in Antarctica as a way of looking at the effects of climate change and how to better conserve the species for future generations. Her research has benefitted from philanthropic support from the generosity of the wider community.
More than just an iconic upright bird with bright yellow ears and a striking tuxedo, Emperor penguins are also a species whose behaviour reflects changes in the environment, due to their status as both prey and predator.
UC Associate Professor Michelle LaRue has been studying Emperor penguins since 2009, studying their global populations, distribution, and environmental factors that may influence change or fluctuations in their populations.
Her work has been greatly aided by philanthropic support, including the proceeds of the auction of 鈥楳oana鈥, a sculpture of a Hoiho | Yellow Eyed Penguin donated by artist Claire Cowles of Wild In Art.
Emperor penguins are a 鈥榤eso-predator鈥 species, which means they are a predator of certain species of fish and krill, but they鈥檙e also hunted by apex predators such as leopard seals and possibly orcas.
鈥淏ecause of that, they鈥檙e an important part of the food web and we also tend to use them as an indicator species for climate change because they rely on fast ice.鈥
鈥楩ast ice鈥 refers to the large ice platforms 鈥榝astened鈥 to the coastline. 鈥淎s climate changes, we would expect ice distribution to decrease so, by understanding what happens to Emperor penguins, what they鈥檙e doing, how they鈥檙e changing behaviours and moving locations, we can learn a little bit about how the environment is changing.鈥
She is also conducting new research into their foraging ecology and space usage in comparison to other species in Antarctica such as Weddell seals and Ad茅lie penguins.
