DIGIR Collections

Benthic samples from HIPPIES, commercial bycatch in the Heard area, Prydz Bay data from AAMBER and the 1991, 1993 and 1997 voyages. Targeted benthos from Macquarie Island area Austral Leader in 2000.

The Australian Government under the auspices of the Australian Bird and Bat Banding Scheme (ABBBS) manages the collation of information on threatened and migratory bird and bat species. The information provided spans from 1953 to the present, and contains over 2 million records. This set comprises records of banding and recovery in the Australian Antarctic territory. Records are also included if the bird was respectively recoverered or banded outside this region.

The atlas shows the known distribution and abundance of each vascular species on Macquarie Island immediately prior to the commencement of control measures against rabbits in 1978. It gives a baseline against which changes in the vegetation can be monitored. The effects of the introduced vertebrates on the vegetation are discussed. Additional data are given on the habitat, gregarious performance and phenology of some species.

This dataset contains the results from surveys of Antarctic Fur Seals (Arctocephalus gazella) on Heard Island during the summer of 1987-1988. As well as habitat descriptions, age, sex, count of adults and pups were determined. The three major aims of the study include: to determine accurately the location of pupping sites; to determine the extent of the pupping season, the median date of birth and the number of pups born; and to census fur seals on as much of the island as possible in order to determine the number of animals ashore and to document changes in numbers during the summer.

Protists are microscopic algae and protozoa, formerly thought of as single-celled plants and animals. Planktonic protists constitute the base of marine food webs and play a key role in the exchange of carbon dioxode between the atmosphere and the ocean. This list is of protists that live in the surface waters and sea-ice south of the Antarctic Polar Front.

This dataset contains Antarctic Pack Ice seal (APIS) observations (both ship and aerial based) collected between 1994 and 2000.

This data also includes some historic data collected between 1985 and 1987. The four species of Antarctic pack ice seals (crabeater, leopard, Weddell, and Ross seals) are thought to comprise up to 50% or more of the world's total biomass of seals. As long-lived, top level predators in Southern Ocean ecosystems, pack ice seals are scientifically interesting because they can assist in monitoring shifts in ecosystem structure and function, especially changes that occur in sensitive polar areas in response to global climate changes.

ARGOS Tracking devices called PTTs are attached to several species of birds, seals and whales. Locations include Heard and Macquarie islands, Auster and Taylor rookery, Berchervaise island and islands in the Antarctic peninsula.

The Antarctic Flora database is a database detailing collection records of plants collected from the Antarctic, subantarctic islands and other areas around the world.

Two endemic orchid species, Nematoceras dienemum and N. sulcatum, are known from sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island. Several additional orchid populations on the island are reported and cleistogamy is documented in N. dienemum for the first time. The known population sizes, habitats and locations for both orchid species are documented here, and new information on their biology and population ecology is provided.

The snow petrel (Pagodroma nivea) is the most common bird of the Bunger Hills, with an estimated population of 1000 breeding pairs in colonies of up to 50 pairs dispersed widely throughout the southern Bunger Hills at altitudes between 25 and 155 m above sea level. About 70% of nests are located in cavities and cracks in bedrock on hills and ridges, while 30% breed under or between large boulders. Nest sites are chosen to be protected from snow accumulation and strong winds

This dataset includes sightings, resightings and incidental sightings from Australian Antarctic Division voyages of whales in the Southern Ocean. These data will allow us to connect fine scale variability with regional and circum-Antarctic processes, and eventually to understand how the dynamics of the Antarctic ecosystem and environmental change might affect the recovery of whale populations.

The SOCEP research objective is to detect and document cetacean sightings and relevant environmental and other information throughout the voyage. The BROKE-West multidisciplinary voyage provides an opportunity to correlate sightings data with oceanographic and biology research conducted by other programs. Search effort is conducted over a broad range of weather conditions. The majority of Antarctic species are medium to large whales, with cues that can be detected in relatively high Beaufort sea states up to and including Beaufort Sea State 7.

Surficial bottom sediments have been collected from Prydz Bay, Antarctica from 5 voyages from 1981 to 1995. Devices used include gravity core, grabs, pipe dredge. Most collections are from 200 to 800 metres depth with the deepest at 3200 metres.

The SAZ project organised by the Antarctic CRC has a continuing program of moored sinking particle trap studies in the Sub-Antarctic and Polar Frontal zones southwest of Tasmania along 140 °E. The first deployment obtained weekly or higher resolution samples through the austral summer from September 1997 through February 1998 at three locations: the central Sub-Antarctic Zone (47 °S, traps at 1000, 2000, and 3800m depth), the Sub-Antarctic Front (51 °S, 1 trap at 3300m ) and above the Southeast Indian Ridge in the Polar Frontal Zone (54 °S, 2 traps at 800 and 1500m). The particles were analysed for total mass, inorganic carbon, total carbon, nitrogen, silicon, and aluminium. Hence values for organic carbon, biogenic silica, and lithogenics were obtained, and the mass fluxes calculated. This report details the sites, moorings, data from the current meters and sediment traps, and results of analyses performed on the collected sediment trap material.

Diatoms abundances from Vestfold Hills lakes. Samples taken in Nov/Dec 1992 and Nov/Dec 1994.

Logged records of black duck and mallard including hybrids at Macquarie Island, February 1963 - January 1985 (data from ANARE and Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service files).

A catalogue of electron microscopy images mostly of biological origin and used in identifying new species of marine and terrestrial organisms. These organisms are extremely important in the Antarctic food web and many of them have microscopic characteristics which show how successfully they have adapted to their extreme environment.

A catalogue of electron microscopy images mostly of biological origin and used in identifying new species of limnetic and terrestrial organisms.

At Heard Island, Southern Indian Ocean, seals were branded between 1949-1953. Seal length was measured in feet and inches. Recaptures of seals were made up until 1955, and growth and age-specific survival was calculated.

At Macquarie Island 1000 seals were weighed per annum between 1993-2003 at birth and individually marked with two plastic flipper tags in the inter-digital webbing of their hind flippers. These tagged seals were weighed again at weaning, when length, girth, fat depth, and flipper measurements were made. Three weeks after weaning 2000 seals were permanently and individually marked by hot-iron branding. Recaptures and re-weigings of these known aged individuals were used to calculate growth and age-specific survival of the seals. Similar data were collected from elephant seals between 1950 and 1965 when seals were individually marked by hot-iron branding. Mark-recapture data from these cohorts were used to assess the demography of the declining population. Length and mass data were also collected for these cohorts and were used, for the first time, to assess the growth of individual seals without killing them.

Distribution data from 1997 and 2004 surveys of two invasive flatworms, Kontikia andersoni and Arthurdendyus vegrandis.

Weekly counts of juveniles, adults and nests of the colony through winter at Stephenson Roost, a site on a moraine of the Stephenson Glacier.

The BANZARE Expeditions (British, Australian, New Zealand, Antarctic Research Expeditions) 1929 - 1931 sampled the marine benthos in the Southern Ocean, at the Kerguelen Islands, Heard Island, Macquarie Island, and southwest of Tasmania and along the coast of the Australian Antarctic Territory. Forty six stations at depths of 2 - 640 m were occupied along the Australian Antarctic Territory coast. Eight species of Halecium including five new and Hydrodendron arboreum were found and recorded from eight stations.

This dataset is a census of penguin and other bird species colony counts from 1900 in the Antarctic region.

included 60 sites in the survey design, distributed across Heard Island in five areas or blocks: Round Hill, Scarlet Hill, Cape Lockyer, Long Beach and Mt Drygowski. This level of sampling was achievable within the five-month period and was sufficient to produce reliable statistical models of invertebrate distribution in the subantarctic.

Observations taken from literature cited by W.Block. Data includes 800 species, 220 references and 3000 observations. There are some marine species that are listed in SCAR-MarBIN Register of Antarctic Marine Species (RAMS).

Records of observations of kelp rafts passing within 50 m of one side of the vessel over replicated periods of 1 hour. Data collected over subantarctic latitudes only. Records include: size, species, presence/absence of holdfast, latitude and longitude, ship speed.

Ground counts of King Penguin Aptenodytes patagonicuseggs, chicks, fledglings and adults at Gadget Gully on Macquarie Island (1993-2008 incomplete). Counts were obtained in the field by observers at Gadget gully. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when blubber oil fuelled house lamps, the king penguin population at Macquarie Island was reduced from two very large (perhaps hundreds of thousands of birds) colonies to about 3000 birds. One colony, located on the isthmus when the island was discovered in 1810, was extinct by 1894 and it took about 100 years for king penguins to re-establish a viable breeding population there. Here we document this recovery. The first eggs laid at Gadget Gully on the isthmus were recorded in late February 1995 but in subsequent years egg laying took place earlier between November and February (this temporal discontinuity is a consequence of king penguin breeding behaviour). The first chick was hatched in April 1995 but the first fledging was not raised until the following breeding season in October 1996. The colony increased on average 66% per annum in the five years between 1995 and 2000. King penguins appear resilient to catastrophic population reductions, and as the island's population increases, it is likely that other previously abandoned breeding sites will be reoccupied.

During the 5-1/2 months on the island most of the beaches were surveyed regularly for seals (3 species) and fishing debris. Leopard Sea surveys were made daily in the first three months for the Four Bays. In the last three months they were continued on a daily basis for Atlas Cove and Corinthlan Bay and once every three days for South West Bay.

The dataset includes data on all fur seals tagged at Macquarie Island since 1986. The dataset includes information on the sex and species of individuals, information on their reproductive histories, resight data and tagging history.

This dataset is a description of the shallow coastal marine fauna found in the Vestfold Hills and Rauer Island area, Antarctica. The results are from various surveys in this region over a 12 month period in 1981-82, and a full listing of species (with photographs) is given in the documentation. It includes benthic, pelagic and planktonic organisms of the coast as well as those that inhabit the ice-water interface.

Fish catch using IYGPT net with MIDOC cod end from the 1996/97 V1 WASTE (WOCE Antarctic Southern Transect Expedition - see http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/voyages/display_voyage.cfm?voyage_id=70)

Collections of the mosses Ceratodon purpureus and Grimmia antarctici from the Windmill islands region and the Vestfold Hills. Sites include ... Clark Peninsula, Antarctic Specially Protected Areas 135 and 136 (formerly known as SSSI16 and SSSI 17), Robinson's Ridge, Peterson Island and around Casey station in the Windmill islands, and Mossel Lake, Lichen Valley and Grimmia Gorge in the Vestfold Hills.

During an early summer visit in 2000, mosses were collected from sites around Heard Island. Three species, Bryoerythrophyllum recurvirostrum (Hedw.) P.C.Chen, Philonotis cf. tenuis (Taylor) Reichardt and Syntrichia filaris (Müll. Hal) R.H. Zander have been added to the list of moss species known from the island, bringing the total to 40 moss taxa. Syntrichia anderssonii (Ångström) R.H. Zander was found with sporophytes, whereas previously its sporophytes were known in the subantarctic only from Macquarie Island. Extensions of range on Heard Island have been recorded for several species. There are few geographical differences in species composition between locations around the island, provided appropriate habitats exist.

Sightings of whales in waters around Australia with some ad-hoc observations in the Antarctic.

Census of Windmill Islands nesting sites for snow petrels, wilson storm petrels, cape petrel and skuas and 3 adelie penguin sites.

This dataset contains sporadic shore based observations of killer whales (Orcinus orca) from Macquarie Island from 1989 to 1998 (inclusive).

Data from ten voyages (Prydz Bay, Heard and Macquarie Islands) and four stations (Mawson, Davis, Casey and Macqaurie) from 1968 to 1999. Contains depth caught, sex, lengths, weights and gonad stage.

Locations of sampling sites for ASAC project 40 on voyage 3 of the Aurora Australis in the 2001/2002 season. The dataset also contains information on chlorophyll, carotenoids, coccolithophorids and species indentification and counts.

Locations of sampling sites for ASAC project 40 on voyage 7 of the Aurora Australis in the 2001/2002 season. The dataset also contains information on chlorophyll, carotenoids, coccolithophorids and species indentification and counts.

The BROKE-West survey was conducted from 30 degrees E and 80 degrees E between January and March 2006. It consisted of 1 east-west transect at the northernmost limit of the survey between 60 degrees S and 62 degrees S between the 10 and 19 of January, followed by 11 meridional transects separated by 5 degrees of longitude and extending from approximately 62 degrees S to the Antarctic continental shelf between the 19 January and 3 March. This dataset details research undertaken to determine the identity, composition and abundance of protists in the survey area.

RMT Trawl catch from the 1985/86 V1 ADBEX I voyage

RMT Trawl catch from the 1985/86 V1 ADBEX III voyage. Records updated and validated July 2010.

This study investigated distribution patterns of pelagic fish, larvae and juveniles collected by RMT trawls during ANARE 1995/96 V4 BROKE survey.

Collected by RMT trawls during ANARE 1980/81 Voyage 5 FIBEX survey.

RMT Trawl catch from the 1983/84 V5 ADBEX II voyage

RMT Trawl catch from the 1984/85 V5 SIBEX II voyage

This data were collected on the sixth Nella Dan voyage of a long term field survey project being conducted by the Australian Antarctic Division, to collect distribution, abundance and population structure data for the krill Euphausia superba in the Prydz Bay region, Antarctica. A Rectangular Midwater Trawl (RMT 1+8) was used for the collection of ... larval and post larval (juvenile and adult) krill Euphausia superba, and other zooplankton. Three haul methods were used. At each station a shallow downward oblique haul was taken from the surface to 200m. At selected stations a deep downward oblique haul from 200m to 1000m was taken to collect early developmental stages of Euphausia superba. When krill swarms were located at particular depths (by a Simrad EK 120 echosounder), specific aimed horizontal tows were made.

Collected by RMT trawls during ANARE 1990/91 Voyage 6 AAMBER2 survey. 62 routine sampling sites were taken within the area 67 degrees to 78 degrees East, 65 degrees South to the Antarctic coastline, in a grid arrangement with approximately 30 nautical miles in latitude and longitude between sites. At each site the 0-200m water layer was sampled by a downward oblique haul with a rectangular midwater trawl RMT 1+8 net. Ten horizontal tows were also made with the RMT 1+8 to identify krill/zooplankton targets detected by the echosounders.

Collected by RMT trawls during ANARE 1992/93 Voyage 6 KROCK survey in the Prydz Bay region, East Antarctica. KROCK is an acronym for Krill and Rock.

This study investigated distribution patterns of pelagic fish, larvae and juveniles collected by RMT trawls during ANARE 2005/06 V3 BROKE West survey.

Samples were collected at trawl stations (approximately every second CTD station), as well as opportunistically when something interesting was spotted on the Echosounder. The samples were collected with an RMT-1 plankton net and preserved in Steedman's solution. Upon returning to Australia, the samples were passed onto Kerrie Swadling, who split them with a Folsom plankton splitter so that between 400 and 1300 indivduials were counter per sample. Every organism was identified to the lowest possible taxon - in the case of copepods, usually to species and stage level. Other taxa are to species wherever possible. All the animals were counted and the results are expressed as abundance per 1000 cubic m.

Thirty-nine species (31 Monogononta and 8 Bdelloidea) are described from Macquarie Island.Thirty-eight of these are new records for the island. Included in the data is the distribution of rotifers at Macquarie Island, in fresh water and Brackish and a comparative measurement of Keratella sancta from New Zealand, Iles Kerguelen and Macquarie Island.

The total number of Royal Penguins breeding on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island is estimated at 848,719 pairs based on two methods of estimation. The sizes and locations of all 57 colonies are given as a baseline for future changes in the species abundance. Current estimates of the sizes of two colonies are compared with historical estimates made by the Australian Antarctic Expedition in 1912-13. Note that the total estimate is included in the Inventory of Antarctic Seabirds dataset as a single record.

Observations of Royal Penguins at North Head, Macquarie Island were made to 2 purposes. First, general observations of the whole rookery, with counting birds, noting times of laying, hatching, changing of guard over the nests and habits of the penguins. Second, the detailed observation of marked nests for the determination of hatching periods, size of clutches and variations in the dimensions of the eggs.

Seabird observations from ships either performing marine science work or taking personnel and cargo to various Antarctic stations. Incidental observations of whales and seals are also noted. This set also contains data from the BIOMASS cruises in the 1980's.

The data set comprises records of snow petrel activity for up to 109 nests clearly marked on the colony of Reeve Hill (near Casey station) between 1984 and 2003.

Very little information is known about the distribution and abundance of Snow petrels at the regional and local scales. This dataset contains locations of Snow petrel nests, mapped in the Mawson region during 2004-2005 season. Location of nests were recorded with handheld Trimble Geoexplorer GPS receivers, differentially corrected and stored as an Arcview point shapefile (ESRI software). Descriptive information relating to each bird nest was recorded and a detailed description of data fields is provided in description of the shapefile (word document). A text file also provide the attribute information (formatted for input into R statistical software).

Historic field reports and other primary literature were re-examined and intrepreted into a consistent format for an analysis of the Southern Giant Petrel Macronetes giganteus census data within the Australian Antarctic Territory. Population data has been forwarded to Agreement on the Conservation of Albatrosses and Petrels (ACAP) for their species assessments.

A database of surveys to map the spatial and temporal patterns of biodiversity of the plankton throughout the region.

Spring Phytoplankton in Southern Ocean collected in Nov-Dec 2001 on SR3 transect (voyage 2001/02 CLIVAR-SR3)

Squid collected as a product of fish surveys. Some records here are not in the RMT trawl collection of pelagic fish for this voyage.

A total of 341 cephalopod specimens comprising 256 squid belonging to 8 genera, 8 species and 85 octopods belonging to 2 genera, 11 species has been captured on the 1990/91 V6 in the Prydz Bay region.

This collection of sightings represent the first evidence of sub-Antarctic Fur seals Arctocephalus tropicalis visiting Heard Island. They normally breed on the Prince Edward Islands and Iles Crozet.

Collection of marine invertebrate specimens from the bycatch of pelagic and benthic trawls conducted by ANARE personnel. Collection methods included IYGPT net (88 samples from 39 sites), benthic trawls (22 samples from 21 sites), RMT net (5 samples from 5 sites), one drift net sample, one mud grab and several specimens from CTD winch wire.

This data set lists over 300 organisms (74 taxa are fossils) that were first described from locations either on the Antarctic continent, or on islands immediately to the north of the Antarctic Peninsula. Work was completed in early 2000 and does not contain any newer references.

Higher level taxonomy have been checked and completed against the Interim Register of Marine and Nonmarine Genera (IRMNG) (http://www.obis.org.au/irmng/). Place name locations taken from the SCAR Composite Gazetteer (http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/).

Census counts of Weddell seals resting/breeding on sea-ice or land in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica (1983 to 1996). Census taken from aerial photographs and matched to a one by one kilometre grid.

Ground based sightings of Weddell seals resting/breeding on sea-ice or land in the Vestfold Hills, East Antarctica. Data locality mapped to a one by one kilometre grid.

Season whale catch records for austral summers from 1931/32 to 1979/80. Data has been aggregated into one degree cells centered on the reported position.

On many voyages, a separate whale log was kept on the bridge for crew or expeditioners to note any incidental whale sightings. This collection aggregates all known whale log entries into one set with links to each voyage. Databases such the Wildlife on Voyage also contain whale observations as extras from the primary purpose of seabird observations and are kept with that collection.

Observations of whales collated from the logs of the two British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE) voyages 19-Oct-1929 to 1-April-1930 and 22-Nov-1930 to 19-Mar-1931. Covers six whale species - Blue, Fin, Sei, Minke, Orca and Humpback. Any whale observations which were not identified at the species level have been excluded from this collection.