These spreadsheets provide the proportions of prey DNA sequences in the scats of Adelie penguins at Bechervaise Island and Whitney Point in East Antarctica. Samples were collected during two stages of the breeding season: mid brood guard (Bechervaise Island-January 4-6th 2013, Whitney Point 23- 28th December 2012) and mid creche (23-26th January 2013). Scat samples were collected from breeding birds, chicks and non-breeders at Bechervaise Island and breeding birds and chicks at Whitney Point. 'Breeders' were identified as individuals brooding or provisioning a chick, whereas 'non-breeders' were usually pairs that had reoccupied the colony and were building new practice nests with no chick present. Non-breeders in the colony include immature birds that have not yet bred and mature birds of breeding age that did not breed in a particular season (e.g. no partner or insufficient body condition) DNA from each sample was extracted and sequenced as per the protocols in the following paper: Jarman, S.N., McInnes, J.C., Faux, C., Polanowski, A.M., Marthick, J., Deagle, B.E., Southwell, C. and Emmerson, L. 2013 Adelie penguin population diet monitoring by analysis of food DNA in scats. PLoS One 8, e82227. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0082227). The Raw Data spreadsheet contains the proportion of each prey group of each individual sample, plus the total sequence count of prey items. Only samples with greater than 100 prey sequences are included in the dataset. The summary datasheet contains only prey taxa which contained greater than 2% of the proportion of sequences. Analysis of these data have been published in: McInnes JC, Emmerson L, Southwell C, Faux C, Jarman SN. (2016) Simultaneous DNA-based diet analysis of breeding, non-breeding and chick Adelie Penguins http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.150443

This file contains a log of observations collected in the Casey region between 1972 and 1988. Observations were made of Adelie penguins. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

This file contains a log of observations collected in the Casey region between 1972 and 1986. Observations were made of Adelie penguin movements on Shirley Island. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

Ecologists are increasingly turning to historical abundance data to understand past changes in animal abundance and more broadly the ecosystems in which animals occur. However, developing reliable ecological or management interpretations from temporal abundance data can be difficult because most population counts are subject to measurement or estimation error. There is now widespread recognition that counts of animal populations are often subject to detection bias. This recognition has led to the development of a general framework for abundance estimation that explicitly accounts for detection bias and its uncertainty, new methods for estimating detection bias, and calls for ecologists to estimate and account for bias and uncertainty when estimating animal abundance. While these methodological developments are now being increasingly accepted and used, there is a wealth of historical population count data in the literature that were collected before these developments. These historical abundance data may, in their original published form, have inherent unrecognised and therefore unaccounted biases and uncertainties that could confound reliable interpretation. Developing approaches to improve interpretation of historical data may therefore allow a more reliable assessment of extremely valuable long-term abundance data. This dataset contains details of over 200 historical estimates of Adelie penguin breeding populations across the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT) that have been published in the scientific literature. The details include attributes of the population count (date and year of count, count value, count object, count precision) and the published estimate of the breeding population derived from those attributes, expressed as the number of breeding pairs. In addition, the dataset contains revised population estimates that have been re-constructed using new estimation methods to account for detection bias as described in the associated publication. All population data used in this study were sourced from existing publications.

This file contains a log of observations collected in the Casey region between 1972 and 1973. Observations were made of Seals (Weddell seals, Elephant seals, Leopard seals) and Adelie penguins. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

The dataset comprises photographic images of seabird breeding colonies from cameras at multiple breeding sites across east Antarctic. Once deployed, the cameras operate continuously throughout the year and over multiple years but are programmed to take photographs on different schedules depending on the seabird species. The species include Adelie penguins, emperor penguins, Southern fulmars, Antarctic petrels, Cape petrels and Southern giant petrels. The cameras were positioned to include approximately 10-50 nests in the field of view. Photographs are taken frequently during the breeding season (1-10 photographs per day from October to March) and infrequently during the non-breeding season (1 photograph per week from March to October). Photographs are named by location, date and time (but not species). The first cameras were deployed in November 2005 and the last camera was deployed in January 2012. Image acquisition is ongoing. Cameras have been placed at: Bechervaise Island, Mawson region (2 cameras, Adelie penguins) Welch Island, Mawson region (3 cameras, Adelie penguins) Verner Island, Mawson region (1 camera, Adelie penguins) Petersen Island, Mawson region (2 cameras, Adelie penguins) Unnamed Island, Mawson region (1 camera, Adelie penguins) Unnamed Island, Mawson region (1 camera, Cape petrel) Taylor Glacier, Mawson region (2 cameras, emperor penguins) Gardner Island, Davis region (3 cameras, Adelie penguins) Magnetic Island, Davis region (2 cameras, Adelie penguins) Hop Island, Davis region (1 camera, Adelie penguins; 2 cameras, Southern fulmars; 1 camera, Antarctic petrel) Hawker Island, Davis region (3 cameras, Southern Giant Petrel) Amanda Bay, Davis region (3 cameras, emperor penguins) Whitney Point, Casey region (2 cameras, Adelie penguins) Blakeney Point, Casey region (1 camera, Adelie penguins) Shirley Island, Casey region (1 camera, Adelie penguins) Odbert Island, Casey region (1 camera, Adelie penguins) Ardery Island, Casey region (2 cameras, Southern fulmars; 2 cameras, Cape petrel) Nelly Island, Casey region (4 cameras, Southern giant petrel) Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay region (1 camera, Adelie penguins)

This log contains notes and observations of many biological species from the Mawson and Davis areas, collected between 1954 and 1960. Species include, Crabeater Seals, Weddell Seals, Ross Seals, Leopard Seals, Elephant Seals, Adelie Penguins, Emperor Penguins and Skuas. The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

This file contains a report and a log of biological observations made in the Davis region during 1962. It includes information on Elephant Seals, Leopard Seals, Crabeater Seals, Adelie Penguins, Emperor Penguins, Skuas, Silver-Grey Petrels, Antarctic Petrels, Cape Pigeons, Snow Petrels, Wilson's Storm Petrels, Giant Petrels and Whales The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

This file contains a log of biological observations made in the Davis region during 1960. It includes information on Elephant Seals, Leopard Seals, Crabeater Seals, Adelie Penguins, Emperor Penguins, Skuas, Silver-Grey Petrels, Antarctic Petrels, Cape Pigeons, Snow Petrels, Wilson's Storm Petrels, Giant Petrels and Whales The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.

This file contains a log of biological observations made in the Davis region during 1958. It includes information on Elephant Seals, Leopard Seals, Crabeater Seals, Adelie Penguins, Emperor Penguins, Skuas, Silver-Grey Petrels, Antarctic Petrels, Cape Pigeons, Snow Petrels, Wilson's Storm Petrels, Giant Petrels and Whales The hard copy of the log has been archived by the Australian Antarctic Division library.