EARTH SCIENCE > BIOSPHERE > ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS > COMMUNITY DYNAMICS
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This work was carried out by Graeme Smith between 1966 and 1970 as part of a PhD at the Australian National University. The dataset contains information about penguins killed in 1967 as part of the work. Also available for download is a copy of the thesis. Taken from the introduction of the thesis: Penguins are widely distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The distribution is circumpolar in the Antarctic and sub-Antarctic regions, and ranges north to the southern coasts of Africa, Australasia and South America, where the range extends northwards up the western coast, and across to the Galapagos Islands. The Galapagos penguin is the most northern species, while the Emperor and the Adelie penguins are confined to the Antarctic. Although most species of penguins are found in the warmer zones of the Southern Hemisphere, and in many cases close to inhabited coasts, comparatively little is known about their biology. By contrast, the biology of the penguins of the remote sub-Antarctic islands and the Antarctic continent is well documented for a number of species. This anomalous situation is probably a result of the great interest shown in the Antarctic regions following Cook's voyages (1768-71 and 1772-75), and the comparatively limited number of species found in these regions. Also see the metadata record for work on Royal Penguins carried out at Macquarie Island between 1955 and 1969 - ID "RoyalPenguin1955-1969".
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This data features stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of co-occurring Southern Ocean pteropods in order to estimate and compare their Bayesian isotopic niches. Other data includes station number, latitude and longitude, species names and sample ID. Details for each column are as follows: A: "species" - Species analysed including, "clio" = Clio pyramidata f. sulcata; "clione" = Clione limacina antarctica; "spongio" = Spongiobranchaea australis; "Large-fraction POM" = large-fraction particulate organic matter; "Small-fraction POM" = small-fraction particulate organic matter B: "speciesID" - Sample ID = unique identifier from Central Science Laboratory, University of Tasmania C: "station" = CTD number (KAxis research voyage) D: "date" = Date of sample (RMT-8 net trawl, KAxis research voyage) E: "lat" = Latitude (degS) F: "long" = Longitude (degE) G: "%C" = percent carbon (no unit) H: "%N" = percent nitrogen (no unit) I: "C:N (bulk)" = uncorrected (raw) carbon-to-nitrogen ratio (no unit) J: "delta 13C (bulk)" = uncorrected (raw) stable carbon isotope values (‰) H: "delta 15N (bulk)" = uncorrected (raw) stable nitrogen isotope values (‰) L: "notes" = samples may be duplicated or triplicated M: "atomic C:N" = C:N (bulk) x 14/12 (no unit) N: "atomic L" = 93/(1+ (1/((0.246 x atomic C:N) - 0.775))) O: "L" = 93/(1+(1/((0.246 x C:N (bulk) - 0.775))) P: "delta 13C (Kiljunen)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Kiljunen et al. 2006 Q: "delta 13C (atomic Kiljunen)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Kiljunen et al. 2006 and atomic L value (column N) R: "delta 13C (Post)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Post et al. 2007 S: "delta 13C (Weldrick)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Weldrick et al. 2019 T: "delta 13C (atomic Smyntek)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Smyntek et al. 2007 and atomic L value (column N) U: "delta 13C (Smyntek)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Smyntek et al. 2007 V: "delta 13C (Logan)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Logan et al. 2008 W: "delta 13C (Syvaranta)" = delta 13C (bulk) corrected using formula by Syvaranta and Rautio 2010 The analysis is featured within a recently accepted paper titled "Trophodynamics of Southern Ocean pteropods on the southern Kerguelen Plateau" peer-reviewed for Ecology and Evolution (2019). It is based on samples collected during the KAxis research voyage, 2015/16.
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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.
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Heard Island Bibliography compiled by Evlyn Barrett, (now deceased), contains 573 records. The bibliography has not been updated since 2002, and should not be considered a complete record of publications related to Heard Island.
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Stereoscopic images of elephant seals at Atlas Cove, taken at Heard Island on 16-17 December 2008. The Aurora Australis made a brief visit to Heard and McDonald Islands in mid-December 2008. The visit was opportunistic owing to an opening in the ship's schedule. During the visit a number of quick surveys were undertaken, primarily assisted by helicopters. This dataset consists of stereographic images taken by two photographers from ground level during a survey of Elephant Seal colonies at Atlas Cove. There are two folders of data, one for each photographer. Each folder contains a shot list of the photos (in an excel spreadsheet), plus the photos themselves.
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Depth related changes in the composition of infaunal invertebrate communities were investigated at two sites in the Windmill Islands around Casey station, East Antarctica, during the 2006/07 summer. Sediment cores (10cm deep x 10cm diameter) were collected from 4 depths (7m, 11m, 17, and 22m) from each of three transects at two sites (McGrady Cove and O'Brien Bay 1). Cores were sieved through a 500 micron mesh and extracted fauna were preserved in 8% formalin and were later counted and identified to species or to morphospecies established through previous infaunal research at Casey. This work was conducted as part of ASAC 2201 (ASAC_2201).
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Sediment Recruitment Experiment 4 (SRE4) was a large, long term (5 year) field experiment run at Casey Station (from 2001 to 2006) testing the effects of 4 different hydrocarbons on marine sediment ecosystems. Four different types of hydrocarbons were individually mixed with defaunated marine sediments and deployed in trays on the seabed at O'Brien Bay-1. Trays were collected after deployment periods of 5 weeks, 56 weeks, 62 weeks, 2 years and 5 years. In addition there was a bioturbation treatment using the burrowing urchin Abatus (at 56 weeks only). Samples were collected from 4 replicate trays of each treatment at each sampling time. Analyses were done of sediment hydrocarbon chemistry, microbial communities, meiofaunal communities, macrofaunal communities and diatom communities. The hydrocarbon treatments were: a synthetic Mobil lubricating oil; the same Mobil lubricating oil after 125? hours use in a vehicle engine; a Fuchs synthetic lubricating oil marketed as highly biodegradable; and Special Antarctic Blend diesel fuel (SAB). A control uncontaminated sediment treatment was used for comparison.
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Sediment Recruitment Experiment 4 (SRE4) was a large, long term (5 year) field experiment run at Casey Station (from 2001 to 2006) testing the effects of 4 different hydrocarbons on marine sediment ecosystems. Four different types of hydrocarbons were individually mixed with defaunated marine sediments and deployed in trays on the seabed at O'Brien Bay-1. Trays were collected after deployment periods of 5 weeks, 56 weeks, 62 weeks, 2 years and 5 years. In addition there was a bioturbation treatment using the burrowing urchin Abatus (at 56 weeks only). Samples were collected from 4 replicate trays of each treatment at each sampling time. Analyses were done of sediment hydrocarbon chemistry, microbial communities, meiofaunal communities, macrofaunal communities and diatom communities. The hydrocarbon treatments were: a synthetic Mobil lubricating oil; the same Mobil lubricating oil after 125? hours use in a vehicle engine; a Fuchs synthetic lubricating oil marketed as highly biodegradable; and Special Antarctic Blend diesel fuel (SAB). A control uncontaminated sediment treatment was used for comparison.
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Sediment Recruitment Experiment 4 (SRE4) was a large, long term (5 year) field experiment run at Casey Station (from 2001 to 2006) testing the effects of 4 different hydrocarbons on marine sediment ecosystems. Four different types of hydrocarbons were individually mixed with defaunated marine sediments and deployed in trays on the seabed at O'Brien Bay-1. Trays were collected after deployment periods of 5 weeks, 56 weeks, 62 weeks, 2 years and 5 years. In addition there was a bioturbation treatment using the burrowing urchin Abatus (at 56 weeks only). Samples were collected from 4 replicate trays of each treatment at each sampling time. Analyses were done of sediment hydrocarbon chemistry, microbial communities, meiofaunal communities, macrofaunal communities and diatom communities. The hydrocarbon treatments were: a synthetic Mobil lubricating oil; the same Mobil lubricating oil after 125? hours use in a vehicle engine; a Fuchs synthetic lubricating oil marketed as highly biodegradable; and Special Antarctic Blend diesel fuel (SAB). A control uncontaminated sediment treatment was used for comparison.
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The current distribution of Adelie penguin breeding colonies in the AAT is being mapped through a series of 'occupancy' surveys. A GIS of potential Adelie penguin breeding habitat was developed to structure the overall search effort. Information about the GIS is given in Southwell et al. (2009) and in the related metadata record 'Sites of potential habitat for breeding Adelie penguins in East Antarctica' with Entry ID AAS_4088_Adelie_Potential_Habitats. The AAT coastline was broken into groups and subgroups which were surveyed when logistics allowed. All sites of potential habitat in each section were searched and a record of whether breeding penguins were present or absent was made. Most surveys were undertaken during the Adelie penguin breeding season when breeding penguins would have been present; any surveys outside the breeding season made observations of the presence or absence of guano. Most surveys have been undertaken from aircraft (both helicopters and fixed wing), but some have been done from the ground. Maps of potential breeding habitat in the groups and subgroups were produced from the GIS to use in the field surveys. The data recorded for each search campaign included the latitude and longitude of the centroid of each site that was searched, the data of search, the observer(s), and the state of occupancy (present or absent). These data were incorporated into the occupancy surveys undertaken as part of AAS project 4088. See the metadata record for that project to access the data (at the provided URL).