King Penguin breeding population at Heard Island.

This indicator is no longer maintained, and is considered OBSOLETE.

INDICATOR DEFINITION

The size of the breeding population of King Penguins at Heard Island.

TYPE OF INDICATOR

There are three types of indicators used in this report:

1. Describes the CONDITION of important elements of a system;

2. Show the extent of the major PRESSURES exerted on a system;

3. Determine RESPONSES to either condition or changes in the condition of a system.

This indicator is one of: CONDITION

RATIONALE FOR INDICATOR SELECTION

The breeding population of King Penguins is related to resource availability (nesting space and food), behavioural mechanisms (immigration/emigration and breeding effort/success) in addition to climate change and human impacts such as fisheries. Monitoring breeding population and interpretation of the data provides information on changes in the Subantarctic ecosystem.

DESIGN AND STRATEGY FOR INDICATOR MONITORING PROGRAM

Spatial scale: Heard Island (lat 53 deg 06' 00.0" S, long 73 deg 31' 59.9" E).

Frequency: 2-3 years. Access to remote colonies and other logistical constraints do not permit annual visits.

Measurement technique: Each colony is visited and individual birds are counted from the ground by two or three personnel performing replicate counts. Further counts are obtained by oblique ground and aerial photography. All breeding individuals in a colony are counted. Considerations regarding disturbance associated with census visits are also incorporated into monitoring strategies. The lack of annual census data does not reduce the value of these long-term monitoring programmes.

RESEARCH ISSUES

The king penguin breeding population at Heard Island has increased at almost 20% per year since the late 1940s; other king penguin populations throughout the Southern Ocean have also increased, but not as rapidly. At present, there is no alternative hypothesis to that previously proposed, that these population increases are sustained by the enhanced availability of myctophids, the principal prey of king penguins (Woehler et al. 2001).

LINKS TO OTHER INDICATORS

Identification info

Alternate title: King Penguin breeding population at Heard Island.

Date (Publication): 2001-05-16

Edition: 1

Originator

Woehler, E.J.

Publisher

Australian Antarctic Data Centre

Principal investigator

WOEHLER, ERIC

Birds Tasmania

Hobart

Tasmania

7001

Australia

Collaborator

WOEHLER, ERIC

Birds Tasmania

Hobart

Tasmania

7001

Australia

Name: CAASM Metadata

Website: https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SOE_seabird_candidate_sp_KP

Status: Completed

Custodian

AU/AADC > Australian Antarctic Data Centre, Australia - AADC, DATA OFFICER (DATA CENTER CONTACT)

Australian Antarctic Division

203 Channel Highway

Kingston

Tasmania

7050

Australia

+61 3 6232 3244

+61 3 6232 3351 (facsimile)

Temporal resolution: P365D

Topic category

Biota
Oceans

Extent

Description: Temporal Coverage

Temporal extent

TimePeriod: 1948-01-01 2004-12-31

Title: Status and conservation of the seabirds of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands.

Date (Publication): 1991

Author

Woehler, E.J.

Name: In: Seabird status and conservation: a supplement.

Other citation details: Croxall, J.P. (ed.), ICBP Technical Publication 11, 263-277.

Title: A statistical assessment of the status and trends of Antarctic and Subantarctic seabirds.

Date (Publication): 2001

Citation identifier: SCAR/NSF/CCAMLR

Author

Woehler, E.J., Cooper, J., Croxall, J.P., Fraser, W.R., Kooyman, G.L., Miller, G.D., Nel, D.C., Patterson, D.L., Peter, H.-U., Ribic, C.A., Salwicka, K. Trivelpiece, W.Z. and Weimerskirch, H.

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