Description
Summary:Progress Code: completed Statement: All colonies in the region, including mainland and island colonies, were mapped. Where an island has no colony mapped, this indicates that no colony was present during the survey. The Vestfold Hills were surveyed from south to north, from the Sorsdal Glacier to the Wyatt Earp Islands, including all mainland and island colonies. Counts of breeding pairs were made at the colonies, and black and white photographs were taken for on-ground colony details. Exact counts were made at smaller colonies, while at larger colonies the penguin numbers were estimated by sub-dividing the colony into units of 10, 100 or 1000 birds, and repeating this method until a duplicate estimate was obtained. Totals were halved to obtain the number of breeding pairs. Maps show the location and distribution of each colony, plus the data censused and the number of breeding pairs counted. This data set provides data from the early 1970s, which extends the time frame back over which population trends can be established. This dataset contains data on the habitats, distribution and numbers of Adelie Penguins (Pygoscellis adeliae) along the Vestfold Hills coast (including colonies on the mainland and offshore islands) during November 1973. The data are obtained from counts at the colonies and black and white photographs. Some aerial photographs were taken at Davis in 1981-82 and 1987-88, and will be compared to the results of this survey. The results are listed in the documentation. A total of 174178 26127 breeding pairs were counted. An increase in Adelie penguin population was found at most locations in East Antarctica. Data from this record has been incorporated into a larger Adelie penguin dataset described by the metadata record - Annual population counts at selected Adelie Penguin colonies within the AAT (SOE_seabird_candidate_sp_AP). It also falls under ASAC project 1219 (ASAC_1219).