Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-06T13:22:19.586Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Population estimates of emperor penguins at Amanda Bay, Ingrid Christensen Coast, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2009

Barbara Wienecke
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia (Barbara.Wienecke@aad.gov.au)
Peter Pedersen
Affiliation:
Australian Antarctic Division, 203 Channel Highway, Kingston, Tasmania 7050, Australia (Barbara.Wienecke@aad.gov.au)

Abstract

In 2008, the emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colony at Amanda Bay, East Antarctica, was designated an Antarctic Specially Protected Area by the 31st Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine. It is only the third emperor penguin colony in the Australian Antarctic Territory to receive this status. The colony has been known to exist since 1956 and numerous visits have been made to it, especially by personnel from Australia's Davis station. On a number of occasions, attempts were made to estimate the number of birds in the colony in order to obtain an insight into the size of the breeding population. Here we report on the history of visitation to the colony since the 1950s and examine the quality of information collected with regard to the usefulness of this information in terms of population analyses. We also report the results of the first visit to the Amanda Bay colony made in winter with the specific purpose of estimating the number of birds present and of highlighting the need for long term monitoring programmes to assess the viability of emperor penguins in future.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anisimov, O.A., Vaughan, D.G., Callaghan, V., Furgal, C., Marchant, H., Prowse, T.D., Vilhjálmsson, H., and Walsh, J.E.. 2007. Polar regions (Arctic and Antarctic). In: Parry, M.L., Canziani, O.F., Palutikof, J.P., van der Linden, P.J. and Hanson, C.E. (editors). Climate change 2007: impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (Contribution of working group II to the fourth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change): 653685.Google Scholar
ATCM (Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting). 1991. Annex V to the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. Area protection and management. URL: http://www.ats.aq/documents/recatt/att004_e.pdf.Google Scholar
ATCM (Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting). 2008. Designation of ASPA 169 (Amanda Bay). URL: http://www.ats.aq/devAS/info_measures_listitem.aspx?lang=e&id=393.Google Scholar
Barber-Meyer, S., Kooyman, G.L., and Ponganis, P.J.. 2007. Estimating the relative abundance of emperor penguins at inaccessible colonies using satellite imagery. Polar Biology 30:15651570.Google Scholar
Barber-Meyer, S., Kooyman, G.L., and Ponganis, P.J.. 2008. Trends in western Ross Sea Emperor penguin chick abundances and their relationships to climate. Antarctic Science 20: 311.Google Scholar
Budd, G.M. 1961. The biotopes of Emperor penguin rookeries. Emu 61: 171189.Google Scholar
Budd, G.M. 1962. Population studies in rookeries of the Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri. Proceedings of the Zoological Society, London 139: 365389.Google Scholar
Coria, N.R., and Monalti, D.. 2000. A newly discovered colony of Emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri. Marine Ornithology 28: 119120.Google Scholar
Cracknell, G.S., Schou, J., Lewis, D., and George, M.. 1984. Emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) studies. In: Lewis, D., and George, M. (editors). The initial scientific reports of the Mawson anniversary and frozen sea expeditions. Windsor, New South Wales: Ocean Research Foundation (Ocean Research Foundation occasional publication 1): 8496.Google Scholar
Cracknell, G.S. 1986. Population counts and observations at the Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colony at Amanda Bay, Antarctica. Emu 86: 113117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gales, N.J., Klages, N.T.W., Williams, R., and Woehler, E.J.. 1990. The diet of the Emperor penguin, Aptenodytes forsteri, in Amanda Bay, Princess Elizabeth Land, Antarctica. Antarctic Science 2: 2328.Google Scholar
Giese, M. and Riddle, M.. 1999. Disturbance of Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri chicks by helicopters. Polar Biology 22: 366371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horne, R.S.C. 1983. The distribution of penguin breeding colonies on the Australian Antarctic Territory, Heard Island, the McDonald Islands, and Macquarie Island. Melbourne: ANARE (ANARE research notes 9): 8–13.Google Scholar
Johnstone, G.W., Lugg, D.J., and Brown, D.A.. 1973. The biology of the Vestfold Hills. Melbourne: Antarctic Division, Department of Science (ANARE scientific reports, series B (I) Zoology, publication 123): 24–25.Google Scholar
Kooyman, G.L., and Mullins, J.L.. 1990. Ross Sea Emperor penguin breeding populations estimated by aerial photography. In: Kerry, K.R., and Hempel, G. (editors) Antarctic ecosystems: ecological change and conservation. Berlin: Springer Verlag: 169176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Korotkevich, Y.S. 1964. The distribution of Emperor penguins. Soviet Antarctic Expedition Information Bulletin 4: 371375.Google Scholar
Nisbet, I.C.T. 1989. Long-term ecological studies of seabirds. Colonial Waterbirds 12: 143147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prévost, J., and Sapin-Jaloustre, J.. 1965. Écologie des manchots antarctiques. Expéditions Polaires Françaises 283: 551648.Google Scholar
Robertson, G., Moreno, C.A., Lawton, K., Kirkwood, R. and Valencia, J.. 2008. Comparison of census methods for black-browed albatrosses breeding at the Ildefonso Archipelago, Chile. Polar Biology 31: 153162.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, N.R., Zhaoqian, D., Kerry, K.R. and Wright, S.. 1984. Water masses and circulation in the region of Prydz Bay, Antarctica. Deep-Sea Research 31: 11211147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Todd, F.S., Splettstoesser, J.F., Ledingham, R., and Gavrilo, M.. 1999. Observations in some Emperor penguin Aptenodytes forsteri colonies in East Antarctica. Emu 99: 142145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Willing, R.L. 1958. Australian discoveries of Emperor penguin rookeries in Antarctica during 1954–57. Nature 182: 13931394.Google Scholar
Woehler, E.J. 1993. The distribution and abundance of Antarctic and subantarctic penguins. Cambridge: Scott Polar Research Institute (report compiled on behalf of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research 7).Google Scholar