An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space.
Our aim was to estimate the population of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes fosteri) using a single synoptic survey. We examined the whole continental coastline of Antarctica using a combination of medium resolution and Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to identify emperor penguin colony loca...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:96420f72e99844ed9f9618280549127a 2023-05-15T13:55:07+02:00 An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. Peter T Fretwell Michelle A Larue Paul Morin Gerald L Kooyman Barbara Wienecke Norman Ratcliffe Adrian J Fox Andrew H Fleming Claire Porter Phil N Trathan 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 https://doaj.org/article/96420f72e99844ed9f9618280549127a EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22514609/pdf/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 https://doaj.org/article/96420f72e99844ed9f9618280549127a PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 4, p e33751 (2012) Medicine R Science Q article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 2022-12-31T05:44:55Z Our aim was to estimate the population of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes fosteri) using a single synoptic survey. We examined the whole continental coastline of Antarctica using a combination of medium resolution and Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to identify emperor penguin colony locations. Where colonies were identified, VHR imagery was obtained in the 2009 breeding season. The remotely-sensed images were then analysed using a supervised classification method to separate penguins from snow, shadow and guano. Actual counts of penguins from eleven ground truthing sites were used to convert these classified areas into numbers of penguins using a robust regression algorithm.We found four new colonies and confirmed the location of three previously suspected sites giving a total number of emperor penguin breeding colonies of 46. We estimated the breeding population of emperor penguins at each colony during 2009 and provide a population estimate of ~238,000 breeding pairs (compared with the last previously published count of 135,000-175,000 pairs). Based on published values of the relationship between breeders and non-breeders, this translates to a total population of ~595,000 adult birds.There is a growing consensus in the literature that global and regional emperor penguin populations will be affected by changing climate, a driver thought to be critical to their future survival. However, a complete understanding is severely limited by the lack of detailed knowledge about much of their ecology, and importantly a poor understanding of their total breeding population. To address the second of these issues, our work now provides a comprehensive estimate of the total breeding population that can be used in future population models and will provide a baseline for long-term research. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Emperor penguins Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Guano ENVELOPE(141.604,141.604,-66.775,-66.775) PLoS ONE 7 4 e33751 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Medicine R Science Q Peter T Fretwell Michelle A Larue Paul Morin Gerald L Kooyman Barbara Wienecke Norman Ratcliffe Adrian J Fox Andrew H Fleming Claire Porter Phil N Trathan An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Our aim was to estimate the population of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes fosteri) using a single synoptic survey. We examined the whole continental coastline of Antarctica using a combination of medium resolution and Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to identify emperor penguin colony locations. Where colonies were identified, VHR imagery was obtained in the 2009 breeding season. The remotely-sensed images were then analysed using a supervised classification method to separate penguins from snow, shadow and guano. Actual counts of penguins from eleven ground truthing sites were used to convert these classified areas into numbers of penguins using a robust regression algorithm.We found four new colonies and confirmed the location of three previously suspected sites giving a total number of emperor penguin breeding colonies of 46. We estimated the breeding population of emperor penguins at each colony during 2009 and provide a population estimate of ~238,000 breeding pairs (compared with the last previously published count of 135,000-175,000 pairs). Based on published values of the relationship between breeders and non-breeders, this translates to a total population of ~595,000 adult birds.There is a growing consensus in the literature that global and regional emperor penguin populations will be affected by changing climate, a driver thought to be critical to their future survival. However, a complete understanding is severely limited by the lack of detailed knowledge about much of their ecology, and importantly a poor understanding of their total breeding population. To address the second of these issues, our work now provides a comprehensive estimate of the total breeding population that can be used in future population models and will provide a baseline for long-term research. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Peter T Fretwell Michelle A Larue Paul Morin Gerald L Kooyman Barbara Wienecke Norman Ratcliffe Adrian J Fox Andrew H Fleming Claire Porter Phil N Trathan |
author_facet |
Peter T Fretwell Michelle A Larue Paul Morin Gerald L Kooyman Barbara Wienecke Norman Ratcliffe Adrian J Fox Andrew H Fleming Claire Porter Phil N Trathan |
author_sort |
Peter T Fretwell |
title |
An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
title_short |
An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
title_full |
An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
title_fullStr |
An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
title_full_unstemmed |
An emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
title_sort |
emperor penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 https://doaj.org/article/96420f72e99844ed9f9618280549127a |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(141.604,141.604,-66.775,-66.775) |
geographic |
Guano |
geographic_facet |
Guano |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Emperor penguins |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Emperor penguins |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 4, p e33751 (2012) |
op_relation |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22514609/pdf/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 https://doaj.org/article/96420f72e99844ed9f9618280549127a |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 |
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PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
4 |
container_start_page |
e33751 |
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