Breeding populations of Southern Giant Petrels at Heard Island, the McDonald Islands and within the AAT

This indicator is no longer maintained, and is considered OBSOLETE.

INDICATOR DEFINITION

The number of breeding pairs of Southern Giant Petrels at Heard Island, the McDonald Islands, and in colonies near Casey, Davis and Mawson stations.

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 Southern Giant Petrels 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 (including fisheries and human disturbance). Monitoring breeding populations and interpretation of the data provides information on changes in the Antarctic and Subantarctic ecosystems.

DESIGN AND STRATEGY FOR INDICATOR MONITORING PROGRAM

Spatial scale: Colonies near Australian Stations -

Frazier Islands, Casey (lat 66 degrees 16' 54.5' S, long 110 degrees 31' 39.4' E)

Hawker Island, Davis (lat 68 degrees 34' 35.8' S, long 77 degrees 58' 02.6' E)

Giganteus Island, Mawson (lat 67 degrees 36' 09.7' S, long 62 degrees 52' 25.7' E)

Heard Island - (lat 53 degrees 06' 00.0' S, long 73 degrees 31' 59.9' E)

McDonald Islands - (lat 53 degrees 02' 26.2' S, long 72 degrees 36' 00.0' E)

Frequency: Breeding Southern Giant Petrels are easily disturbed. Colonies are visited every 3-5 years to minimise disturbance to breeding birds.

Measurement technique: All colonies are visited and breeding birds are counted from outside the colonies by two personnel performing replicate counts. All breeding individuals in a colony are counted. No birds are disturbed off their nests.

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

All Southern Giant Petrel breeding populations in the AAT and at HIMI decreased following their discovery. Southern Giant Petrels breeding on Indian Ocean islands are highly sensitive to human disturbance. Access to breeding colonies is restricted, as are the types of activities permitted. Disturbance from researchers has been implicated in the observed decreases in these populations (Woehler et al. 2001, Woehler et al. in press). Analyses of the long term AAT data suggest that the breeding populations at Hawker Is and at the Frazier Is have recovered following the restrictions on access and activities permitted on breeding islands.

LINKS TO OTHER INDICATORS

Identification info

Alternate title: Breeding populations of Southern Giant Petrels at Heard Island, the McDonald Islands and within the AAT

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_SGP

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: 1955-01-01 2002-12-31

Title: The status of Southern Giant-Petrels, Macronectes giganteus, at the Frazier Islands, Wilkes Land, East Antarctica.

Date (Publication): 1990

Citation identifier: 14

Author

Woehler, E.J., Martin, M.R. and Johnstone, G.W.

Name: Corella

Page: 101-106

Title: The distribution of seabird biomass in the Australian Antarctic Territory: Implications for conservation.

Date (Publication): 1990

Citation identifier: 17

Author

Woehler, E.J.

Name: Environmental Conservation

Page: 256-261

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: Status and conservation of the seabirds of the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Date (Publication): 1991

Author

Woehler, E.J. and Johnstone, G.W.

Name: Seabird status and conservation: a supplement.

Other citation details: Croxall, J.P. (ed.), ICBP Technical Publication 11, 279-308.

Title: Antarctic seabirds: their status and conservation in the AAT.

Date (Publication): 1993

Citation identifier: 9

Author

Woehler, E.J.

Name: RAOU Conservation Statement

Page: 8

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

Date (Publication): 2001

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.

Name: SCAR/NSF/CCAMLR

Page: 43