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The following are excerpts from Ensor and Bassett (1987). A census by counts and estimates of Adelie penguin chicks on the George V Land coast of Antarctica between Commonwealth Bay and Buchanan Bay was undertaken during January 1982. Sections of colonies were photographed for comparison with photographs taken in 1913 during the Australasian Antarctic Expedition; positions and sizes of sub-colonies appeared unchanged after an interval of 68 years. Observations on the distribution of breeding Antarctic fulmars, Cape petrels, Snow petrels, Wilson's storm-petrels and South polar skuas are presented. This report describes the breeding status of seabirds, particularly Adelie penguins, on the George V Land coast of Antarctica between Commonwealth Bay (67 degrees S, 142.5 degrees E) and Buchanan Bay 67.1166 degrees S, 144.6666 E). The area was visited in January 1982 during the Mawson anniversary expedition of the Oceanic Research Foundation (ORF) on the schooner Dick Smith Explorer. The observations on the breeding of seabirds were conducted as a contribution to the International Survey of Antarctic Seabirds (ISAS) designed to investigate the abundance and distribution of seabirds in the Southern Ocean ecosystem. Of particular interest to this program is the the population status of Adelie penguins Pygoscelis adeliae. The George V Land coast has seldom been visited. The main expeditions to the area have been the 1911-13 Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE) and the 1929-31 British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition (BANZARE). Falla (1937) summarised the biological observations made during these expeditions, including estimates of the numbers of Adelie penguins breeding in the Cape Denison area (67 degrees S, 142.6666 degrees E). The Australian National Antarctic Research Expeditions and Expeditions Polaires Francaises have also made visits. The present observations provide a recent estimate of the breeding population of Adelie penguins in the area. Since the authors' visit to the colonies was late in the breeding season, estimates of numbers were restricted to chicks. The number of chicks gives an approximation of the number of pairs of penguins breeding but due to annual variations in breeding success, these estimates are not as reliable as the direct counts of occupied nests that can be made during the incubation period. The 1981-82 ORF expedition was based at Cape Denison between 11 and 30 January 1982 where a census of Adelie penguin chicks and observations on the breeding of other birds was conducted. A camp was established on the Mackellar Islands (66.9666 degrees S, 142.65 degrees E) from 12 to 14 January to enable a census of penguin chicks to be made. On 30 January the expedition departed Cape Denison towards the Mertz Glacier tongue (154.3333 degrees E). The cruise track of the vessel followed approximately the outer limit of islets of the Way Archipelago (143.6666 degrees E) and passed close to Moyes Islands (143.85 degrees E) and Hodgeman Islands (144.25 degrees E). Brief visits were made to two islets in the Way Archipelago, Stillwell Island (143.8 degrees E) and an unnamed islet near Garnet Point (143.7666 degrees E). En route to the Mertz Glacier, a planned landing at Cape Hunter (66.95 degrees S, 142.3333 degrees E) to investigate the breeding population of seabirds including a large colony of Antarctic petrels Thalassoica antarctica (Falla 1937), had to be abandoned due to the onset of high winds. Adelie Penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae Locations of Adelie penguin colonies and counts and estimates of the numbers of chicks in each colony are given in a spreadsheet available at the url below. The total numbers of Adelie penguin chicks on the coast between Cape Denison and Buchanan Bay was 55,242. At Cape Denison, on the Mackellar Islets and on Stillwell Island, direct counts of chicks were made. Counts were replicated until a 5% accuracy was achieved. To aid the counting, the distribution of guano (which approximates to the extent of the sub-colonies) was mapped. On 12 January at Cape Denison, the first day of the author's counts, chicks were not yet in creches and were still protected by adults at their nest sites. It was possible therefore to count the number of occupied nests, the number of single chicks and pairs of chicks. These counts were obtained for 14 sub-colonies and in 297 nests 413 chicks were recorded. The 4898 chicks counted in the whole of the Cape Denison colony should therefore represent 4898 x 297/413 = 5322 nests at this stage of the breeding season. The original number of pairs of penguins that bred at Cape Denison in the 1981-82 season was greater than 3522 by an unknown number. A more accurate estimate of the actual number of pairs of penguins that bred at Cape Denison in the 1981-82 season could not be made because the authors have no knowledge of breeding failure prior to their visit. Previous estimates for Cape Denison were over 5000 pairs in January 1931 (Falla 1937) and 2000 pairs in January 1974 (Horne 1983). The authors have not adjusted the number of breeding pairs at colonies other than Cape Denison because it appears there is a difference in the breeding success between colonies in this area. Circumstantial evidence for this was the retarded development of chicks observed at Cape Denison. On 12 January chicks were still protected by adults at their nest sites, while the following day on the Mackellar Islets 7 km away, large creches of chicks from previous seasons were far more abundant than at any of the other colonies visited, suggesting a higher mortality of chicks at this colony. A probable factor inducing the retardation of breeding and higher chick mortality at Cape Denison is the severe weather characteristic of this locality (Mawson 1915). The strong katabatic winds that prevail at Cape Denison lose much of their force before reaching the offshore islands. Photographs were taken at Cape Denison and on Greater Mackellar Islet and compared with those taken in the 1912-13 breeding season during the AAE (Falla 1937). The relative positions and sizes of the sub-colonies were very similar after an interval of 68 years. Unfortunately the authors did not have the opportunity to take a photograph to match that taken by Falla on Lesser Mackellar Islet in 1931, but comparison with the authors' sketch maps of the sub-colonies indicates that the sizes and positions of the sub-colonies are similar. Although the authors have no knowledge of the numbers of penguins that bred in other parts of these colonies in the 1912-13 and 1929-31 breeding seasons, the similarity of the sizes and positions of the sub-colonies suggests that the current breeding population at Cape Denison and on the Mackellar Islets is comparable to that present in 1911-13 and 1929-31. This implies that the breeding population of penguins on this part of the Antarctic coast has been relatively stable over some 70 years. On this basis it is likely that the previous estimates of numbers of breeding penguins on the Mackellar Islets, 100,000 pairs in the 1913-14 season and 200,000 pairs in 1930-31 (Falla 1937), were too high, as the authors' count was 27,130 chicks. During the authors' visit to the unnamed islet in the Way Archipelago there was insufficient time to conduct a census of chicks and so photographs were taken from which chicks were subsequently counted. Counts and estimates of chicks in breeding colonies at Cape Gray (66.85 degrees S, 143.3666 degrees E), Moyes Islands, Hodgeman Islands and islets of the Way Archipelago (apart from the two on which the authors landed) were conducted from the vessel and the colonies were mapped in detail. Chicks on islets near to the vessel were counted individually and estimates of chick numbers were made only when the colonies were too distant and individual chicks could not be counted. The accuracy of counts and estimates of chick numbers conducted from the vessel depended on the vessel's distance from the colonies, the terrain and aspect of the breeding areas and visibility. Sun glare and obstruction of view by other islets and icebergs sometimes affected visibility. Use of binoculars was restricted by vibrations of the vessel. Therefore the counts and estimates of number of chicks conducted from the vessel, during which only the colonies in view were considered, underestimated the actual number of chicks, since substantial proportions of some colonies were probably hidden from view. Cape Pigeon Rocks, for example, most probably have relatively large numbers of penguins nesting on their landward facing slopes. This is evidenced by well-defined penguin tracks leading up the snow slopes on the seaward facing aspect. Some islets were several miles from the vessel and although the identification of penguins breeding on them was not always possible, we assumed all were Adelie penguins. Photographs of the islets were taken for comparison with the author's field notes and a selection of these have been lodged with the Australian Antarctic Division. No penguins were observed breeding on the Laseron Islands (66.9833 degrees S, 142.8 degrees E), Blair Islands (66.8333 degrees S, 143.15 degrees E), Fletcher Island (66.8833 degrees S, 143.0833 degrees E), Hannam Islands (66.9166 degrees S, 142.95 degrees E) or on the Close Islands (67.05 degrees S, 144.55 degrees E). There appears to be a medium-sized colony of Adelie penguins at Cape Hunter, but weather conditions prevented getting close enough to make an estimate of the number of chicks present. Antarctic Fulmar, Fulmarus glacialoides About 190 Antarctic fulmar nests with chicks were found on Stillwell Island. Fulmars on nests were seen from the vessel on two other islands in the Way Archipelago. These islands had about 75 and 20 nests. Cape Petrel, Daption capense A single Cape petrel nest, containing one chick, was found on Stillwell Island. Snow Petrel, Pagodroma nivea Thirty occupied nests were found at Cape Denison, 4 on the Mackellar Islets and 10 on Stillwell Island. More nests certainly would have been present at Cape Denison, but nest sites are restricted on the islands. Wilson's Storm-Petrel, Oceanites oceanicus During a brief search at Cape Denison, 5 nests of Wilson's storm-petrels were located. Apparently suitable breeding habitat occurs over large areas at Cape Denison and many more nests probably exist. On Greater Mackellar Islet, 4 nests were found and on Lesser Mackellar Islet the authors found 7. More nests probably exist on each of these islets although suitable habitat is restricted. No nests were found on Stillwell Island, but many storm-petrels were seen flying about the island in the evening. Antarctic Prion Pachyptila desolata Antarctic prions were found nesting at Cape Denison in 1913 during the AAE, in the vicinity of John O'Groats near the eastern barrier. A pair was shot on 3 December and the specimens (no. 22083 and 22084) are now in the Australian museum, Sydney. One member of a second pair was shot on 10 December, but the specimen was lost in the water. On 11 December, a prion was found in a crevice under a rock, with bones and an egg, evidently from a previous season. On 16 December, two more eggs were found (Falla 1937). This is the only record of Antarctic prions breeding at the Antarctic continent, apart from the Peninsula region. During the evacuation of an ANARE party in February 1978, a small bird was found tangled in the radio aerial during dis-assembly. It was badly injured and was killed to prevent further suffering. It was placed under a rock. Early in 1981, it was retrieved and identified as an Antarctic prion (G.W. Johnstone, pers. comm.). The radio aerials were on the hill south of the Mertz memorial cross. This is the only record of an Antarctic prion at Cape Denison since the AAE. The authors spent several evenings watching for prions in the vicinity by John O'Groats, and searched for nests but saw no birds and found no nests. The status of Antarctic prions at Cape Denison remains enigmatic. South Polar Skua, Catharacta maccormicki South polar skuas were found breeding at all areas visited. Nests at Cape Denison (4), Greater Mackellar Islet (3), Lesser Mackellar Islet (3), Stillwell Island (3) and the unamed islet in the Way Archipelago (3) each contained one chick. Two of the birds breeding at Cape Denison and on on Lesser Mackellar Islet were banded. Two of these had Paris Museum bands and had been banded by French biologists at Dumont d'Urville 150 km to the west. The other bird was timid and its band number could not be read. The dataset consists of a spreadsheet of chick numbers by date and location, several locality maps and comparative photos. The fields in this dataset are: Location Date Chick Numbers
Metadata record for data from AAS (ASAC) project 2926. Public Summary DNA based approaches will be used to study key features of the ecology of whales, penguins and krill. Standard methods cannot accurately estimate what prey species these predators consume, how old they are, or how they are related to the rest of their species. This project will apply novel DNA based methods to biopsy or scat samples as a non-invasive means of improving our understanding of the diet, age and population structure of these important predators. Project objectives: The overall objective of this project is to use molecular biology to study aspects of the ecology of key Southern Ocean predators that cannot be addressed with other methodologies. The organisms that the project would focus upon have been chosen because they are large biomass components of the Southern Ocean food web and because they are important to the Australian Governments commitments to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) and the International Whaling Commission (IWC). This project is integral to the work of the Australian Centre for Applied Marine Mammal Science (ACAMMS) that has recently been formed within the Science Branch of the AAD. The focus predators are baleen whales (primarily Minke whales, Balaenoptera edeni and Humpback whales, Megaptera novaengliae), Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) and Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae). Within this overall goal, there are three major objectives: 1. To characterise and monitor predation by key Southern Ocean organisms with dietary DNA analysis. 2. To use population genetics to study the stock structure and population size of baleen whales and Antarctic krill. 3. To develop and validate DNA-based age estimation methods for whales. 1. DNA Based Dietary Research A major objective of this project is to apply DNA based methods for dietary analysis to large sample sets taken to address specific ecological questions. My group at the Australian Antarctic Division has been at the forefront of developing DNA based methods to study animal diet. We have been especially active in researching DNA as a non-invasive means of studying the diet of large mammals and birds by reconstructing diet with prey DNA that we can identify in scats from predators. Our development of new DNA-based methodologies (Jarman et al., 2002; Jarman et al., 2004; Deagle et al., 2005; Jarman et al., 2006a) and accompanying software tools (Jarman 2004; Jarman 2006) have led to more efficient dietary analysis methods and has produced a substantial volume of good quality published research and stimulated international interest in these methodologies, which are now being pursued by several overseas laboratories. We have completed short descriptive studies of the diet of Antarctic krill (Passmore et al., 2006), whales (Jarman et al., 2002; Jarman et al., 2004; Jarman et al., 2006b), fur seals (Casper et al., in prep) and macaroni penguins (Deagle et al., in prep) with these methods, but have not had comprehensive sets of samples with which we can address broader ecological questions. The ecological questions that the dietary component of this project will address are: 1a. What is the diversity and identity of prey species consumed by populations of the key predators? 1b. What are the relative biomass proportions of prey species consumed by key predator populations? 1c. What temporal variation is there in diversity, identity and abundance of prey consumed by each key predator population? 1d. What spatial variation is there in diversity, identity and abundance of prey consumed by each key predator population? The focus species cover three trophic levels of the Southern Ocean food web. Krill are thought to feed predominately on primary producers with some heterotrophic prey taken as well. Adelie penguins feed on krill and other small nekton and plankton, as well as being prey of leopard seals and killer whales, making them a mid-to-high level predator. Baleen whales feed on diverse planktonic and nektonic organisms, preferring crustaceans and small fish that tend to form high-concentration swarms and are top predators. By studying krill and their most abundant predators (Adelie penguins) and their largest predators (baleen whales) we get an assessment of trophic flow from primary production to both a mid-level predator and a top-level predator. It is clearly not possible to study all components of the Southern Ocean food web, so by targeting these three key groups it is hoped that we will not only gather information that is most directly relevant to the objectives of the science program, but that this information will also be an efficient means of assaying some of the most important trophic interactions in the Southern Ocean food web as a whole. Krill are highly abundant and quite easy to sample. They are generalist feeders, which makes them a good organism for monitoring changes in populations of primary producers and small heterotrophs. Furthermore, they are the target organism of the world's largest crustacean fishery (Nicol and Endo, 1997). This makes them a species of major interest to CCAMLR. Our scientific objective in studying krill diet with DNA based methods is to improve our understanding of this critically important organism. This research should contribute to Australia's role in CCAMLR and consequent influence within the Antarctic treaty system. Adelie penguins are the only land-based predators in this study. They are the most abundant penguin and can be found in high concentrations at breeding colonies at many points along the Antarctic coastline. This makes their population size and condition relatively easy to estimate when compared to completely marine organisms. These features make them an excellent animal to survey for ecosystem monitoring purposes and they have been selected by CCAMLR as their main organism for the CEMP (CCAMLR Ecosystem Monitoring Program). The objective of the Adelie penguin DNA based diet research is to develop non-invasive diet analysis methods that can rapidly and cheaply analyse large numbers of scat samples for prey DNA. This technology would allow us to monitor penguin diet without stomach flushing and would also enable the generation of much finer-scale temporal and spatial information on Adelie penguin diet. It is hoped that the development of these methods to the point where they become practical and cheap to apply on a large scale may eventually allow them to be recommended to CEMP as a replacement for stomach flushing as a dietary analysis method. Baleen whales are highly visible components of the Southern Ocean ecosystem and despite their relative scarcity, they are very well studied because of their charisma and being the focus of a prominent international fishery and conservation organisation, the IWC. The diet of baleen whales is difficult to study with any methodology, so our previous development of DNA based methods to analyse prey DNA found in whale scats as part of AAS project 2301 was scientifically quite a useful advance. It was also a useful political advance for Australia as we can now argue that lethal whaling for 'scientific' studies is less necessary than previously claimed. The objective of the baleen whale diet work is to continue our previous research in this area to maintain our position as the only country within the IWC that is capable of doing truly non-invasive dietary research on whales. 2. Population Genetics Research This project would also include studies of the population genetics of humpback whales, minke whales and Antarctic krill. These studies have two goals. The first is to study genetic differentiation within each of these species. For humpback whales this work would focus on attempts to link whales found in Australian Antarctic waters during the summer feeding season with the whales that migrate past the west and east coasts of Australia and which breed near south Pacific islands. For Antarctic krill, the genetic differentiation work aims to identify genetic 'stocks' of krill to assist in policy decisions for managing the krill fishery, as well as potentially providing a tool for measuring flux of krill between different regions of the Southern Ocean. The second goal of the population genetics work is to use genetic data to estimate population size. Simple methods for estimating the size of an animal breeding population (the 'effective population') have been available for some time. We would apply these methods and also work on newer genetic 'mark and recapture' type methods that estimate overall population size, rather than just the size of the proportion of the population that reproduces. Another aspect of this goal is the estimation of past population sizes, which would give us a better idea of pre-exploitation stocks of whales and their relative recovery from exploitation to date. 3. DNA-Based Age Estimation Another major goal of the project is to develop genetic methods for estimating the age of whales. This would be a major advance for cetacean science as the methods could be performed on DNA collected through biopsy samples, or potentially even from the 'sloughed' skin that a whale leaves behind when diving. There are currently no validated, non-lethal methods for estimating cetacean age in adults. The only alternative methods for age estimation involve lethal sampling for collection of ear bones in which growth rings can be counted. One of the main claims promulgated by the Japanese scientific whaling program is that lethal sampling of whales is necessary for aging them. The political objective of this research would be to neutralise this claim in the same way that our DNA based dietary research has previously neutralised the claim that lethal sampling is necessary for dietary analysis. Alongside this political objective is the scientific objective that the development of a widely applicable, non-lethal aging method for whales would provide a wealth of information on the age structure of whale populations. This is an especially important feature of their ecology as most of the great whales are still recovering from human exploitation, which should have led to skewed age distributions in these populations when compared to the natural age distribution. Better knowledge of their population age structure will greatly improve our understanding of the recovery process and the current status of whale populations. Taken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report: Progress against objectives: 1. DNA based diet work. We converted our DNA based diet analysis work to next-generation sequencing based methodologies and refined blocking primer approaches for eliminating predator DNA in the libraries that we sequence. This approach was published as Deagle et al (2009) as listed in the papers below. 2. Population genetics research. A microsatellite and mitochondrial sequence dataset for humpback whale population samples in eastern Australian waters, West Australian waters and Antarctic waters in the Ross Sea has been generated, analysed and a paper written. 3. DNA based age estimation. Libraries of cDNA from juvenile, sub Adult and Adult humpback whales have been analysed. ~1.2 gb data was produced for each library. We are currently analysing these to identify genes that are differentially expressed among the three age classes.
From the abstract of the referenced paper: Satellite telemetry data are a key source of animal distribution information for marine ecosystem management and conservation activities. We used two decades of telemetry data from the East Antarctic sector of the Southern Ocean. Habitat utilization models for the spring/summer period were developed for six highly abundant, wide-ranging meso- and top-predator species: Adelie, Pygoscelis adeliae and emperor, Aptenodytes forsteri penguins, light-mantled albatross, Phoebetria palpebrata, Antarctic fur seals, Arctocephalus gazella, southern elephant seals, Mirounga leonina, and Weddell seals, Leptonychotes weddellii. The regional predictions from these models were combined to identify areas utilized by multiple species, and therefore likely to be of particular ecological significance. These areas were distributed across the longitudinal breadth of the East Antarctic sector, and were characterized by proximity to breeding colonies, both on the Antarctic continent and on subantarctic islands to the north, and by sea-ice dynamics, particularly locations of winter polynyas. These areas of important habitat were also congruent with many of the areas reported to be showing the strongest regional trends in sea ice seasonality. The results emphasize the importance of on-shore and sea-ice processes to Antarctic marine ecosystems. Our study provides ocean-basin-scale predictions of predator habitat utilization, an assessment of contemporary habitat use against which future changes can be assessed, and is of direct relevance to current conservation planning and spatial management efforts. The data files provided here comprise the model predictions of the preferred habitat for each of the six species listed above, as well as the overlap results obtained by combining these six sets of results. See the paper for methods used to generate the model predictions and to combine the individual species results. File names for individual species are of the form results_SPP_TYPE.asc, where SPP is one of "afs" (Antarctic fur seal), "ap" (Adelie penguin), "ep" (emperor penguin), "lma" (light-mantled albatross), "ses" (southern elephant seal), or "ws" (Weddell seal. TYPE is either "mean" (mean estimate of habitat preference) or "iqr" (inter-quartile range of uncertainty in the estimate; see paper for details). Data values for individual species results are percentiles of the study area, so that values of 90% or higher are pixels corresponding to the most important 10% of habitat for that species, values of 80% or greater are the top 20% of habitat, and so on. The overlap results files are named overlay_results_mean.asc and overlay_results_iqr.asc. Values in these files represent the average of the top four individual species results in a given pixel (see paper for details).
This dataset contains the results from surveys on the feeding habits of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) on Bechervaise Island, Mawson, Antarctica. Surveys have been conducted since 1991, and are ongoing to determine the diet composition and prey species of penguins. Data for this project were compiled by Megan Tierney, as part of her PhD Thesis, and are presented in two excel spreadsheets. Also provided in the Related URL section, is a link to a trophic database of "A compilation of dietary and related data from the Southern Ocean". This database contains a large amount of other publicly available diet related data collected as part of the Australian Antarctic program.
This dataset includes Adelie penguin colonies and coastline digitised from Eric J. Woehler, G.W. Johnstone and Harry R. Burton, 'ANARE Research Notes 71, The distribution and abundance of Adelie penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae, in the Mawson area and at the Rookery Islands (Specially Protected Area 2), 1981 and 1988'. Copies of the maps as PDF and TIFF downloads are available through the SCAR Map Catalogue (see the links in the related links section). Map 1 [Mawson area, including the Rookery Islands SPA] Map 2 [Rookery Islands SPA] Map 3 [Islands near Mawson Station] Map 4 [Rookery Island 1] Map 5 [Rookery Island 2] Map 6 [Rookery Island 3] Map 7 [Rookery Island 3A] Map 8 [Rookery Island 4] Map 9 [Rookery Island 5] Map 10 [Rookery Island 6] Map 11 [Rookery Island 7] Map 13 [Rookery Island 9] Map 14 [Rookery Island 10 and 11] Map 15 [Giganteus Island] Map 16 [Rookery Island] Map 17 [Bechervaise Island] Map 18 [Verner Island] Map 19 [Petersen Island] Map 20 [Welch Island Sheet 1 of 2] Map 20 [Welch Island Sheet 2 of 2] Map 21 [Klung Island] Map 22 [Un-named island west of Klung Island] Map 23 [Gibbney Island] Map 24 [Un-named island west of Forbes Glacier] Map 25 [Islands surveyed in 1981-82 where Adelie penguin colonies were located]
Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 106 See the link below for public details on this project. From the abstracts of some of the referenced papers: This paper reports the results of the first aerial photographic survey of Adelie penguin colonies in the Prydz Bay region. The area surveyed extended from the northern Vestfold Hills to the Publications Ice Shelf. More than 325,000 pairs of Adelie penguins were estimated to be breeding in this region in 1981/82. The great majority of breeding Adelie penguins occurred in the northern half of the region surveyed, in the Vestfold hills and Rauer Islands, where most colonies were located. This is probably due to the typical pattern of summer sea-ice dispersal, which usually results in sea-ice leaving the northern areas of the coast first. Prydz Bay supports nine seabird species that breed on the Princess Elizabeth Land coast: two penguins, six Procellariiformes and one skua. Information on their diet is reviewed. Apart from the scavenging South Polar Skua Catharacta maccormicki and Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus, three diet types were distinguished. First, the Emperor Penguin Aptenodytes forsteri ate almost exclusively fish; secondly the Adelie Penguin Pygoscelis adeliae, Cape Petrel Daption capense, and Wilson's Storm Petrel Oceanites oceanicus consumed at least 60% euphausiid, the remainder largely fish; and thirdly, a diet of greater than 60% fish, the rest euphausiids, was taken by the Southern Fulmar Fulmarus glacialoides, Antarctic Petrel Thalassoica antarctica and Snow Petrel Pagodroma nivea. Seasonal fluctuation in composition of Adelie Penguin, Cape Petrel and Southern Fulmar diet suggested either fluctuating foraging ranges or movement of Euphausia superba inshore during summer months. Annual fluctuation in diet composition was correlated with seabird reproductive success. When E. crystallorophias dominated the euphausiid component of Adelie Penguin diet, reproductive success was high; when E. superba was scarce in Prydz Bay, Antarctic Petrel and Southern Fulmar productivity was low. Breeding phenology, success and nest attendance of Antarctic Petrels Thalassoica antarctica and Southern Fulmars Fulmarus glacialoides at the Rauer Group, East Antarctica, are discussed. Most data were collected on Hop Island in January and February 1988, and from December 1988 to March 1989. Observations extended from the late stages of incubation to post-guard or fledging periods. Some annual breeding indices collected from 1983 onwards at census sites are compared with meteorological data and the extent of fast ice for the nearby Davis Station. Both species had a restricted hatching period, reflecting a brief and synchronised egg-laying period, reflecting a brief and synchronised egg-laying period, typical of other southern fulmarine petrels. Antarctic Petrel chicks hatched from 4 January (1989) and c. 90% appeared by 16 January (both years). Southern Fulmar hatching began on 21 January (1988) and almost all chicks appeared by 6 February (both years). Adult attendance at nests declined with increasing chick age. For Antarctic Petrels, this was most marked at about 11 days; no chicks had continuously attendant adults after 24 days, although adults returned to feed them. Incubation shifts following hatching and the post-guard period started, on average, 13 days after hatching. Egg and chick losses varied between years and sites. The South Polar Skua Catharacta maccormicki was apparently involved in the majority of losses. Nest sites of both species resemble those elsewhere: Southern Fulmars may require steeper sites, allowing a fall away from colonies. Antarctic Petrels are less affected by accumulation of snow or ice and shelter from katabatic winds may be important. Although weather may modify breeding success locally, annual success must depend on the ability of parents to produce eggs and feed chicks: this may be moderated by the extent and persistence of pack ice. Annual chick productivity and breeding success, recorded at four Adelie penguin, Pygoscelis adeliae, colonies at Magnetic Island in eastern Prydz Bay, are presented for the seven breeding seasons 1981/82 to 1987/88. The adult breeding population remained relatively stable during the first 4 years of the study, and increased in hte last 2 years. Substantial annual variation in breeding success occurred over the study period, ranging between an estimated 0.69 and 1.33 chicks surviving until late creche stage per nest for seasons 1985/86 and 1982/83 respectively. Annual patterns of chick productivity in southern fulmar, Fulmarus glacialoides, and Antarctic petrel, Thalassoica antarctica, populations within Prydz Bay were synchronous with those of Adelie penguins. In the years of highest and lowest reproductive performance, prey abundance within the likely foraging areas was correspondingly high and low. Reproductive performance was greatest in years when fast-ice breakout occurred before the end of December (1981/82, 1982/83. 1986/87 and 1987/88) and lowest when the breakout was after (1983/84, 1984/85 and 1985/86) and pack-ice cover persisted within the foraging range of the birds during the chick-rearing period.
The relationship between colony area and population density of Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae was examined to determine whether colony area, measured from aerial or satellite imagery, could be used to estimate population density, and hence detect changes in populations over time. Using maps drawn from vertical aerial photographs of Adelie Penguin colonies in the Mawson region, pair density ranged between 0.1 and 3.1 pairs/m2, with a mean of 0.63 - 0.3 pairs/m2. Colony area explained 96.4% of the variance in colony populations (range 90.4 - 99.6%) for 979 colonies at Mawson. Mean densities were not significantly different among the 19 islands in the region, but significant differences in mean pair density were observed among colonies in Mawson, Whitney Point (Casey, East Antarctica) and Cape Crozier (Ross Sea) populations. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 1219 (ASAC_1219). The fields in this dataset are: Island Latitude Longitude Date Colony area Breeding Pairs Breeding Pairs per square metre Area per nest Number of nests Number of adults
An ArcGIS shapefile layer showing the extent of all extant Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies at Nelly Island, Windmill Islands, December, 1990. The colony boundaries were digitised from Linhof aerial photographs (ANTC1219, run 53, frames 5-7) that were georeferenced to the Windmill Islands Topopoly GIS dataset. Data quality cannot be accurately assessed. Errors in the georeferencing process could not be quantified, and there are positional discrepancies between overlapping aerial photographs are up to 2.4 m. Thus, absolute errors in the position of the colonies cannot be quantified, but the colony boundaries should be within ~0.5m of their location within the photographs. The shapefile and the georeferenced aerial photographs are available for download from a Related URL. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 1219 (ASAC_1219).
An ArcGIS shapefile layer showing the extent of all extant and relic Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies on Shirley Island, Windmill Islands, February 2006. The field Status describes each polygon as extant, relic or maximum. Extant refers to the area used by breeding birds in the summer 2005/06. Maximum refers to the historic maximal extent of the colony. Relic refers to any colony which was not occupied by any breeding pairs during 2005/06. Positional accuracy is approx. 1-2 m, after accounting for dGPS errors and errors in identification of the boundaries of colonies. Mapping was conducted after the end of the breeding season, so boundaries were identified as the extent of nest pebbles/fresh faeces, and it was considered that they could be reliably identified to within 0.5m. Data were acquired using a Trimble Pro XH differential GPS. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 1219 (ASAC_1219). Work on this project also utilised a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) created for Shirley Island. See the metadata record, 'A digital elevation model (DEM) and orthophoto of Shirley Island, Windmill Islands, Antarctica' for more information (linked below).
An ArcGIS shapefile layer showing the extent of all extant and relic Adelie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) colonies at Whitney Point, Windmill Islands, February 2006. The field 'Status' describes each polygon as extant, relic or maximum. Extant refers to the area used by breeding birds in the summer 2005/06. Maximum refers to the historic maximal extent of the colony. Relic refers to any colony which was not occupied by any breeding pairs during 2005/06. Positional accuracy is approx. 1-2 m, after accounting for dGPS errors and errors in identification of the boundaries of colonies. Mapping was conducted after the end of the breeding season, so boundaries were identified as the extent of nest pebbles/fresh faeces, and it was considered that they could be reliably identified to within 0.5m. Data were acquired using a Trimble Pro XH differential GPS. This work was completed as part of ASAC project 1219 (ASAC_1219). Also for this project, three aerial photographs of Whitney point showing the adelie penguin colonies and taken on 17 December 1990 were georeferenced. These aerial photographs are film ANTC1219 run 54 frames 21 to 23. Work on this project also utilised a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) created for Shirley Island. See the metadata record, 'A digital elevation model (DEM) and orthophoto of the Whitney Point area of the Windmill Islands, Antarctica' for more information (linked below). Since the 2005/06 summer was a low-ice year the opportunity was also taken to survey with differential GPS a section of coastline about 230 metres long east of Whitney Point on Clark Peninsula. This section of coastline was ice free and accessible. The data was collected with differential GPS on 10 February 2006.