Monitoring of a Southern Giant Petrel Macronectes giganteus population on the Frazier Islands, Wilkes Land, Antarctica

Abstract Since 1956, Southern Giant Petrels on the Frazier Islands, East Antarctica, have been counted with different census techniques, sometimes varying within seasons and among islands, which hindered analysis of the data. Protective measures for the islands from 1986 onwards have increased the n...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jeroen C S Creuwels Ae, Jonathan S Stark, Eric J Woehler Ae, Jan A Van Franeker, Christine A Ribic
Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
Format: Text
Language:English
Subjects:
East Antarctica
Frazier
Frazier Islands
Giganteus
Nelly Island
Wilkes Land
Antarc*
Antarctica
Giant Petrel
Giant Petrels
Macronectes giganteus
Online Access:http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1045.3453
http://www.creuwels.nl/old/Download/Creuwels_PolarBiol2005.pdf
Description
Summary:Abstract Since 1956, Southern Giant Petrels on the Frazier Islands, East Antarctica, have been counted with different census techniques, sometimes varying within seasons and among islands, which hindered analysis of the data. Protective measures for the islands from 1986 onwards have increased the need for reliable long-term census data, but reduced the ways to collect these data. Published and unpublished data were re-examined, and population trends were reconstructed based on two relatively standardised techniques: the number of active chicks (AC) and the number of apparently occupied nests (AON) around hatching. AC-values from Nelly Island from 1959 to 1998 indicate substantial periodic fluctuations, but no consistent long-term change. Since the late 1970s, AC-values on the other two islands and AON-values suggest that the breeding population may have grown by 35%. This recent growth, however, is within the extent of periodic fluctuations observed in Southern Giant Petrel population that is stable over the long term.

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