Penguin guano fuels algae that accelerate Antarctic snowmelt, study finds

Penguin droppings can speed Antarctic snowmelt by supplying nutrients to algae, researchers have found. The study links guano carried across snowfields by the birds to increased green algal blooms. Snow containing green algae absorbs more solar energy than snow containing red algae, causing it to melt faster.

Alia Khan of the University of Colorado and her team collected red and green snow algae along the coast of the West Antarctic peninsula, comparing areas with and without penguin colonies. Their findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, identify penguins as an inadvertent source of fertiliser for these snow-dwelling organisms.

The report says Antarctic melting projections do not yet account for this process. It also describes penguins moving south as temperatures rise, potentially extending the area affected. However, the account provides no numerical estimate of the additional melting or its contribution to Antarctic snow loss overall.