IACS Professor Lynch cited in The Wall Street Journal

IACS Associate Professor Heather Lynch was recently quoted in the U.S. News section of The Wall Street Journal in an article titled “Counting Penguins Isn’t Black and White.” The article, written by Jo Craven McGinty in the November 3-4 edition, looks at penguins as an “indicator species that provides information about the condition of the environment” and at the methods used to count and track the colonies of Adelies and Gentoo penguins located on the Western Antarctic Peninsula. Prof. Lynch shared her knowledge and expertise explaining that the penguins are counted by hand in addition to being examined through satellite images, some of which are provided by NASA’s Landsat System. She and her team also look at images of the penguins’ guano stains, the size of which can indicate how many nests are in the area. Using these combined methods helps Lynch and her team get a more accurate count of these flightless seabirds.  

"The author did a great job highlighting some of the nuance involved in tracking penguin populations, and how field work and satellite imagery work hand-in-hand,’ said Professor Lynch. “The challenge of tracking penguin populations is enormous, and the work is never done, but we are now at the point where this information can make a real difference for policy and management. The 2018-19 field season is just getting underway now, and I can't wait to see what's happened since we left."