All scientific data collected by the Australian Antarctic program (AAp) are eventually described in the Catalogue of Australian Antarctic and Subantarctic Metadata (CAASM). CAASM can be used to search through AAp data descriptions, and it also provides links to access publicly available datasets, which can either be immediately downloaded or obtained from the Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AADC).

Citation
Shellam, G. (2011) Presence of Disease in the Penguins and Skuas of Macquarie Island, Ver. 2, Australian Antarctic Data Centre - doi:10.4225/15/574BC4F16A33A, Accessed: 2026-05-13
Title
Presence of Disease in the Penguins and Skuas of Macquarie Island
Data Centre
Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia
DOI
doi:10.4225/15/574BC4F16A33A
Created Date
2006-07-27
Revision Date
2018-08-29
Expected Date of Data Release
2011-12-08
Data Version
2
Parent record
None

Description

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 2555
See the link below for public details on this project.

This study investigated the role of Antarctic skuas in the transmission of diseases to royal and king penguins on Macquarie Island. Using blood samples and cloacal swabs we assessed the parasites and viral diseases of the Antarctic skua and the two penguin species. Up to 150 subjects of each species were inspected. We compared the sub-Antarctic environment of Macquarie with previous work in a continental environment. By understanding the role that skuas play in the dynamics of diseases in Antarctica we are better able to define the role of humans in the system.

The download file contains several excel spreadsheets, a readme document and a copy of a poster.

Taken from the readme:
"There are three files that simply enumerate the samples taken and the sample numbers associated with each individual skua or penguin. In general we took two faecal swabs; one was preserved in viral transport medium (medium +streptomycin) and the other was preserved in BHB + glycerin. Both sets were then frozen at -80 degrees C.
Blood was drawn from the brachial vein and where possible, one drop was used to make a thin smear that was air dried. The rest of the blood sample was allowed to clot for at least 3 hours then spun down by centrifuge. The serum was drawn off and has been stored at -80. The RBC pellet was treated with Queen's lysis buffer and has been stored at 4 degrees C.

The other three files are the results of testing for Newcastle Disease and Infectious Bursal Diisease. They are redundant files. One contains the results from both pathogens and the other two contain just the results from a single set of pathogens.

Finally, there is a copy of a poster presentation from the International penguin conference in Hobart in 2007."

Show more...

Quality

2018-08-29 - The original files was reformatted to fit OBIS/GBFI/IPT Biodiversity.AQ tracking standards, and a new datasheet "PenguinDisease_2006.csv" was created. The new dataset contains datasetID, occurrenceID, recordNumber, eventDate, year, month, day, decimalLatitude, decimalLongitude, locationID, locality, island, institutionCode, country, countryCode, lifeStage, samplingProtocol, occurrenceStatus, occurrenceRemarks, and basisOfRecord. The lowest taxonomical rank of the species identified that could be determined is provided, after matched in WoRMS (World Register of Marine Species).

Access

These data are publicly available for download from the provided URL.

Temporal Coverages

Spatial Coverages

Science Keywords

Additional Keywords

  • disease
  • penguins
  • skuas

Locations

  • OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
  • OCEAN > SOUTHERN OCEAN
  • GEOGRAPHIC REGION > POLAR

Platforms

  • FIELD SURVEYS
  • LABORATORY
  • FIELD INVESTIGATION

Instruments

  • VISUAL OBSERVATIONS

Researchers

  • shellam (deceased), geoff (INVESTIGATOR,TECHNICAL CONTACT)
  • connell, dave (DIF AUTHOR)

Use Constraints

This data set conforms to the CCBY Attribution License
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Please follow instructions listed in the citation reference provided at http://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/metadata/citation.cfm?entry_id=ASAC_2555 when using these data.

Project

    ISO Topic

    • BIOTA
    • OCEANS

    Dataset Language

    • ENGLISH

    Orignating Centre

    • Australian Antarctic Division

    Dataset Progress

    • COMPLETE

    IDN Node

    • AMD/AU
    • CEOS
    • AMD

    Metadata Revision History

      2011-12-09 - record updated by Dave Connell, after data were provided by Gary Miller. 2016-04-29 - record updated by Dave Connell - basic updates. 2018-08-29 - record updated by Dave Connell after a reformatted dataset was provided by Daniela Farias for GBIF/OBIS compliance.

    Creative Commons License