The influence of resource limitation on spatio-temporal population dynamics is a fundamental theme in ecology and the concepts of carrying capacity, density dependence and population synchrony are central to this theme. The life history characteristics of seabirds, which include use of disjunct patches of breeding habitat, high coloniality during breeding, strong philopatry, and central-place foraging, make this group well suited to studying this paradigm. Here, we investigate whether density-dependent processes are starting to limit population growth in the Adélie penguin metapopulation breeding in the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica, after 6 decades of growth. Our finding that the regional growth rate has slowed in recent decades, and that growth is slowing differentially across local populations as availability of breeding habitat and possibly food resources decrease, supports the notion of density-dependent regulation. Our observation of the first new colonisation of a breeding patch in a half-century of population growth by this highly philopatric species is further evidence for this. Given these emerging patterns of spatio-temporal population dynamics, this metapopulation may be at a point where the rate of change in density-dependent processes and rare events such as colonisations accelerates into the future, potentially providing new insights into spatio-temporal metapopulation dynamics of a long-lived species over a short time-frame. Continued long-term study of populations experiencing these circumstances provides an opportunity to expedite advances in understanding metapopulation processes. Our study highlights the importance of spatial heterogeneity and the mosaic of abiotic and biotic features of landscapes and seascapes in shaping species’ metapopulation dynamics.

资源限制对时空人口动态的影响是生态学的一个基本主题，承载能力、密度依赖和人口同步的概念是该主题的核心。海鸟的生活史特征，包括使用不连续的繁殖栖息地、繁殖过程中的高殖民性、强大的亲缘性和中心位置觅食，使这个群体非常适合研究这种范式。在这里，我们调查了密度依赖过程是否开始限制在南极洲东部风车群岛的阿德利企鹅集合种群繁殖中，经过 6 年的增长后的种群增长。我们发现近几十年来区域增长率有所放缓，并且随着繁殖栖息地的可用性和可能的​​食物资源的减少，当地人口的增长速度有所放缓，支持密度依赖调节的概念。在半个世纪的人口增长中，我们观察到这种高度亲和的物种在繁殖区首次新定殖，这进一步证明了这一点。鉴于这些新出现的时空种群动态模式，该种群可能处于一个密度依赖过程和罕见事件（如殖民化）的变化率加速到未来的点，这可能提供对时空种群动态的新见解在很短的时间范围内长寿的物种。对经历这些情况的种群进行的持续长期研究提供了一个机会，以加快了解集合种群过程的进展。我们的研究强调了空间异质性以及景观和海景的非生物和生物特征的镶嵌在塑造物种复合种群动态方面的重要性。