Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica
To monitor and conserve a species, it is crucial to understand the size and distribution of populations. For seabirds, population surveys are usually conducted at peak breeding attendance. One of the largest populations of Cape petrels in East Antarctica is at the Vestfold Islands, where environment...
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsos.211659 2024-06-02T07:57:04+00:00 Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica Kliska, Kimberley Southwell, Colin Salton, Marcus Williams, Richard Emmerson, Louise 2022 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211659 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.211659 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.211659 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Royal Society Open Science volume 9, issue 4 ISSN 2054-5703 journal-article 2022 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211659 2024-05-07T14:16:13Z To monitor and conserve a species, it is crucial to understand the size and distribution of populations. For seabirds, population surveys are usually conducted at peak breeding attendance. One of the largest populations of Cape petrels in East Antarctica is at the Vestfold Islands, where environmental and logistical constraints often prevent access to breeding sites at the optimal time for population surveys. In this study, we aim to quantify the contemporary and historical breeding population size of these Cape petrels by adjusting nest counts for variation in breeding phenology using photographs from remote cameras. We also compare spatial distribution between 1970s and 2017/2018. Our results show ground counts occurred outside peak breeding attendance, and adjusting for phenology changed the contemporary and historical population estimates. The Cape petrels showed local intra-island or adjacent-island changes in their distribution between the 1970s and 2017/2018 with no evidence of expanding or restricting their distribution or a significant change in their breeding population size. The results emphasize the importance of accounting for phenology in population counts, where populations are inaccessible at an optimal survey time. We discuss the applications of our research methodology for populations breeding in remote areas and as a baseline for assessing population change. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Cape Petrels East Antarctica The Royal Society Antarctic East Antarctica Vestfold Royal Society Open Science 9 4 |
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Open Polar |
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The Royal Society |
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crroyalsociety |
language |
English |
description |
To monitor and conserve a species, it is crucial to understand the size and distribution of populations. For seabirds, population surveys are usually conducted at peak breeding attendance. One of the largest populations of Cape petrels in East Antarctica is at the Vestfold Islands, where environmental and logistical constraints often prevent access to breeding sites at the optimal time for population surveys. In this study, we aim to quantify the contemporary and historical breeding population size of these Cape petrels by adjusting nest counts for variation in breeding phenology using photographs from remote cameras. We also compare spatial distribution between 1970s and 2017/2018. Our results show ground counts occurred outside peak breeding attendance, and adjusting for phenology changed the contemporary and historical population estimates. The Cape petrels showed local intra-island or adjacent-island changes in their distribution between the 1970s and 2017/2018 with no evidence of expanding or restricting their distribution or a significant change in their breeding population size. The results emphasize the importance of accounting for phenology in population counts, where populations are inaccessible at an optimal survey time. We discuss the applications of our research methodology for populations breeding in remote areas and as a baseline for assessing population change. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kliska, Kimberley Southwell, Colin Salton, Marcus Williams, Richard Emmerson, Louise |
spellingShingle |
Kliska, Kimberley Southwell, Colin Salton, Marcus Williams, Richard Emmerson, Louise Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica |
author_facet |
Kliska, Kimberley Southwell, Colin Salton, Marcus Williams, Richard Emmerson, Louise |
author_sort |
Kliska, Kimberley |
title |
Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica |
title_short |
Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica |
title_full |
Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of Antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of Cape petrels in East Antarctica |
title_sort |
phenology-based adjustments improve population estimates of antarctic breeding seabirds: the case of cape petrels in east antarctica |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211659 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsos.211659 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsos.211659 |
geographic |
Antarctic East Antarctica Vestfold |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic East Antarctica Vestfold |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Cape Petrels East Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Cape Petrels East Antarctica |
op_source |
Royal Society Open Science volume 9, issue 4 ISSN 2054-5703 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.211659 |
container_title |
Royal Society Open Science |
container_volume |
9 |
container_issue |
4 |
_version_ |
1800738473078947840 |