$20k scholarship helps UC student study 'mischevious and cheeky' penguins
The 24-year-old Canterbury University PhD student hopes to find out what the population of adélie penguins is in the Antarctic Ross Sea region.
Adélie penguins are an indicator species, which means their well-being can represent the overall biodiversity and environmental health of an area.
Using satellite imagery, Strang will monitor penguin colonies with the aim of getting an accurate population estimate – and discover whether it is trending up or down.
'When I started Antarctic studies I thought I'd end up in some type of field conservation job. I didn't know much about research or data but I had a passion for marine biology and it's just developed from there,' she said.
Strang has received a $20,000 doctoral scholarship, which will enable her to use images from commercial satellites to monitor the population.
She will also stay with an American conservation research team at the Ross Sea from October to February, where she will monitor how well penguins' chicks are doing as part of her broader studies.
'It will be really cool to see the penguins in their natural environment. They're a bit mischievous and cheeky and also a bit clumsy sometimes,' said Strang.
About a third of the global adélie penguin population lives in the Ross Sea.
While monitoring of adélie penguins was extensive from the 1980s to 2000s, recent changes have prompted a desire for a new population estimate.
Declines in sea ice and the establishment of the Ross Sea Marine Protected Area in 2016 make it timely to examine penguin population trends in the region.
Strang will study population change across 15 colonies through satellite images from 2009 to 2023.
Then she will see if there is a link to environmental change, with the aim of predicting future population trends based on observed changes.
Strang also wants to help enhance the precision of high-resolution satellite imagery even further by providing feedback for satellite operators.
This could help make future monitoring of penguin populations more accurate.
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