Identifying Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas in Antarctica Using RPAS Surveys—A Case Study of Cape Melville, King George Island, Antarctica

• Published in: Drones
• Main Authors: Katarzyna Fudala, Robert Józef Bialik
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2023
• Subjects: Antarctic Important Bird and Biodiversity Area; King George Island; Cape Melville; RPAS in wildlife conservation; Antarctic shag; Leucocarbo bransfieldensis; Motor vehicles. Aeronautics. Astronautics; TL1-4050; Antarctic; Destruction Bay; Middle Island; The Antarctic; Trowbridge; Trowbridge Island; Ørnen; Ørnen Rocks; Antarc*; Antarctica; Chinstrap penguin
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.3390/drones7080538; https://doaj.org/article/0a4c9bffd8cd4b6fb97454d8a41954ed

A remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) survey of an area containing the eastern extremity of King George Island, including Cape Melville and an extensive part of Destruction Bay, as well as small offshore islands, was undertaken in December 2022. Using RPAS, an inventory of the Destruction Bay area was performed. Chinstrap penguin and Antarctic shag nests were found on Cape Melville and on Trowbridge Island, Middle Island, and an unnamed area located between the Ørnen Rocks formation and Trowbridge Island. During the survey, 507 Antarctic shag nests and over 9000 chinstrap penguin nests were mapped in the investigated area; 458 Antarctic shag nests and 4960 ± 19 chinstrap penguin nests aggregated together on an 8.61 ha land section of Cape Melville were identified. The quantity of Antarctic shag nests found allows for the classification of the area of Cape Melville as an IBA. Among the 175 currently known colonies of Antarctic shags in Antarctica, this is the fifth largest. In this paper, we present the results of the survey, including orthophotos with mapped nest locations. We propose the following recommendations to policy makers and the scientific community: (1) the area of Cape Melville should be classified as an Antarctic Important Bird and Biodiversity Area; (2) based on the RPAS flight, a new boundary of the Cape Melville IBA is proposed; (3) the threshold value (based on >1% of species) to establish an IBA for Antarctic shags should be changed to 122 to reflect the increased estimate of the global population of Antarctic shags; and (4) an inventory of all areas, including previous IBAs that can be qualified as “major colonies of breeding native birds”, should be recommended at the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM). In logistically inaccessible bird breeding sites, such as the one presented here, RPASs should be used to carry out regular monitoring of Antarctic Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas.