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Recent decrease in chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) populations at two of Admiralty Bay’s islets on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica

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Abstract

We examined the breeding populations of chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica) on Chabrier Rock and Shag Island within Admiralty Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica from 2002 to 2004. When comparing our results to historic data from 1979, we found an overall decline of 57% in the last 25 years, mirroring the population trend of this species in other regions of the Antarctic Peninsula. Our results are discussed in relation to factors hypothesized to be driving the declines found at other sites, as well as the importance of consistent annual censuses to accurately determine population trends.

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Acknowledgments

Our thanks to the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), the Secretary of the Inter-ministerial Commission for the Resources of the Sea (SeCIRM) and the field assistants from the Laboratory of Ornithology and Marine Animals of the Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Ornithology and Marine Animals, Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Av. Unisinos 950, São Leopoldo, RS, Brazil

    Martin Sander, Tatiana Coelho Balbão & Ana Paula Bertoldi Carneiro

  2. Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC, USA

    Michael John Polito

  3. Ecology Pos-graduate Program, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Erli Schneider Costa

Authors
  1. Martin Sander
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  2. Tatiana Coelho Balbão
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  3. Michael John Polito
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  4. Erli Schneider Costa
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  5. Ana Paula Bertoldi Carneiro
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Correspondence to Martin Sander.

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Sander, M., Balbão, T.C., Polito, M.J. et al. Recent decrease in chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) populations at two of Admiralty Bay’s islets on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Polar Biol 30, 659–661 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0259-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-007-0259-1

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