“The colony never recovered”
I call bullspit on this claim, doesn’t pass the smell test
Emperor penguins live 15-20 years in the wild and reach sexual maturity in 3-8 years. Meaning they reproduce for 7-17 years.
A years loss of chicks certainly would hurt, but it would not destroy a colony.
And given 2016 was 5 years ago, you haven’t even hit the peak time when those chick would have been part of the breeding population yet.. the colony certainly will recover in time. However that time will likely be after the lost generation has worked its way through the system
It is possible that year after year of such occurrences would eventually make the colony unviable, but a one time event like that will not. Given it’s been 5 years now since that event and it hasn’t happened again, claiming it’s likelihood will be routine going forward is conjecture not science