The factors that control the number of animals in a population are often difficult to understand. However, this basic understanding is central to managing those populations and assessing how they might respond to human induced pressures. For animals living in the Antarctic, like penguins, the marine environment that they depend on for food can vary due to natural events such as El Nino, and potentially due to human induced changes such as global warming. This study uses modern computer technology to track Royal penguins at sea and to monitor their time on land. By relating where the birds go to feed, what they feed on, and how successfully they catch their food to the survival rates of their chicks, this study will describe how fluctuations in a major Antarctic oceanographic feature (the Antarctic Polar Front) can influence the size of the Royal penguin population at Macquarie Island. Information on breeding success, diet and foraging success were collected each year between 1997-2001. Diving behaviour and at-sea movements were also quantified between 1997 and 1999. These data will also be available in the ARGOS satellite tracking database. Attached to this metadata record are ARGOS tracking data collected by Cindy Hull between 1994 and 2000. The tracking data have been collected from 19 different royal penguins. The download file contains a csv file with tracking data.

This dataset contains the results from surveys of Royal Penguins (Eudyptes schegeli) on Macquarie Island. The surveys were conducted between May 1984 and January 1985. The total number of Royal penguins breeding on Macquarie Island is estimated at 848,719 pairs (+/-10.5%). The sizes and locations of all 57 colonies are given. The results are listed in the documentation. All Royal penguins breeding at Macquarie Island were allocated to one of 57 colonies identified by locations and varying in size from 75 breeding pairs to over 160,000 breeding pairs. The mean number of nests in the Lower Sandy Bay plots was 2.43/m2 (range at 95% confidence limits 2.32-2.54). The occupied area given for Hurd Point colony has been reduced by 5% from that surveyed to allow for two areas included in the survey which were subsequently found not to be used by breeding birds in the 1984-85 season. The variation in the difference between the lower and upper estimates of individual colonies given in Table 2 ranges from 17% to 50%. This was mainly due to the extreme variability of the terrain and/or the degree of association with Rockhopper penguins. The number of breeding pairs calculated for the colonies surveyed through the winter was 487,932 (range 465,838 - 510,014). The total estimated for the unsurveyed colonies was 360,787 (range 294,100 - 427,475) breeding pairs. The total estimated number of breeding pairs of Royal penguins on Macquarie Island is 848,719 +/- 10.5% (range 759,938 - 937,489). The dataset includes two text files (csv format) detailing the number of breeding pairs at each colony, and an sketch map of Macquarie Island detailing the locations of the colonies. The fields in this dataset are: Colony Area Range Breeding Pairs

This dataset contains information on the distribution of Penguins and their breeding colonies in the Australian Antarctic sector, as of 1983. It forms Australia's contribution to the International Survey of Antarctic Seabirds (ISAS). The results are listed in the documentation. These include counts of chicks, adults and nests, as well as colony distribution maps. The survey includes Emperor Penguins, Adelie Penguins, King Penguins, Gentoo Penguins, Macaroni Penguins, Rockhopper Penguins, Chinstrap Penguins and Royal Penguins. Original data were taken from ANARE Research Notes 9. Only data from the Australian Antarctic Territory is described in this metadata record. Images of rough maps detailing the locations of each of the colonies are available for download from the url given below. Observation and count data have been incorporated into the Australian Antarctic Data Centre's Biodiversity Database. The data are presented in the format of Croxall and Kirkwood (1979) as recommended by the Report of the Subcommittee on Bird Biology held in Pretoria. In the tables all counts are estimates of the number of breeding pairs except where otherwise indicated. The numerical estimates and counts are of three kinds, indicated by the coded N, C or A: NESTS (N = count of NESTS or breeding/incubating pairs) The most accurate count of breeding pairs is that derived from a count of nests. This is usually carried out during incubation, but may also be made while chicks are still in the nest, before creches are formed. Such counts are only underestimates of breeding pairs by the number of breeding failures sustained between egg laying and the date of the count. CHICKS (C = count of CHICKS) Late in the breeding season the only counts possible are those of chicks. In general most pygosceild penguins raise one chick per pair per season, so a count of chicks gives a reasonable approximation of the original number of breeding pairs. However, season to season variation in breeding success can often be considerable. For example Yeates (1968) reports breeding success in Adelie Penguins at Cape Royds of twenty-six per cent, forty-seven per cent and sixty-eight per cent ever three seasons. Also, Macaroni Penguins only raise approximately 0.5 chicks per pair per season, so that chick counts of this species may be a considerable underestimate of the true breeding population. ADULTS (A = count of ADULTS) Many colony counts and estimates were expressed as total number of birds or adults. These figures are difficult to interpret as they depend on the time during the breeding season at which they were made. For some days prior to and until laying is finished, both birds of a pair will be present at the nest site while during incubation it is more likely that only one bird will be present. A further problem with counts of 'birds' is that they may include individuals who are not breeding and this gives an overestimate of the true breeding population. The counts of 'birds' or 'adults' which appear unqualified in log books have been divided by two to give an estimate of the number of breeding pairs. It must be stressed therefore that these counts are the least accurate. The degree of accuracy of these counts is inevitably highly variable and it is often difficult to ascertain on what basis a figure was arrived at. For the present survey counts have been allocated to one of five degrees of accuracy. 1. Pairs/nests essentially individually counted. The count is probably accurate to better than + 5 per cent. 2. Numbers of pairs in a known area counted individually and knowing the total area of the colony, the overall total calculated. This technique is useful for very large colonies. 3. Accurate estimates; + 10-15 per cent accuracy. 4. Rough estimate; accurate to 25-50 per cent. 5. Guesstimate; to nearest order of magnitude. Many references are in the form ANARE (Johnstone) or simply ANARE. These refer to unpublished reports extracted from ANARE station biology logs. Those in the form Budd (1961) refer to published records and are listed in the references at the end of this publication. The locations of some colonies are indicated on maps. Place names that (as of 1983) have not yet been approved are shown in the tables and on the maps in parentheses, for example: (ROCKERY ISLAND).

The data are contained in a number of log books in hand written form (now scanned onto CD ROM. They were gathered according to a protocol updated annually by the Principal Investigator, DR Robert Carrick (now deceased). Details are contained in the paper Carrick R (1972) Population ecology of the Australian black-backed magpie, royal penguin, and silver gull. in: Population ecology of migratory birds - A symposium. US Dept of the Interior, Fish and wildlife service. Wildlife Research Report 2. pp 41-99. The only other information on the Royal penguin population to come from these investigations is the PhD Thesis of G.T. Smith, Studies on the behaviour and reproduction of the Royal penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus schlegeli. Australian National University April 1970. The log books contain a vast array of observations on the Royal penguin. Major observations/studies include banding of chicks and adults, breeding chronology, egg laying, breeding success, arrival weights, movements within and between colonies. The protocols for the collection of the data are missing although some instructions and notes are included in the volumes. Some data have also been entered into an excel spreadsheet.