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First direct, site-wide penguin survey at Deception Island, Antarctica, suggests significant declines in breeding chinstrap penguins

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Abstract

Deception Island (62°57′S, 60°38′W) is one of the most frequently visited locations in Antarctica, prompting speculation that tourism may have a negative impact on the island’s breeding chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarctica). Discussions regarding appropriate management of Deception Island and its largest penguin colony at Baily Head have thus far operated in the absence of concrete information regarding the current size of the penguin population at Deception Island or long-term changes in abundance. In the first ever field census of individual penguin nests at Deception Island (December 2–14, 2011), we find 79,849 breeding pairs of chinstrap penguins, including 50,408 breeding pairs at Baily Head and 19,177 breeding pairs at Vapour Col. Our field census, combined with a simulation designed to capture uncertainty in an earlier population estimate by Shuford and Spear (Br Antarct Surv Bull 81:19–30, 1988), suggests a significant (>50 %) decline in the abundance of chinstraps breeding at Baily Head since 1986/1987. A comparative analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery for the 2002/2003 and the 2009/2010 seasons suggests a 39 % (95th percentile CI = 6–71 %) decline (from 85,473 ± 23,352 to 52,372 ± 14,309 breeding pairs) over that 7-year period and provides independent confirmation of population decline in the abundance of breeding chinstrap penguins at Baily Head. The decline in chinstrap penguins at Baily Head is consistent with declines in this species throughout the region, including sites that receive little or no tourism; as a consequence of regional environmental changes that currently represent the dominant influence on penguin dynamics, we cannot ascribe any direct link between chinstrap declines and tourism from this study.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of The Tinker Foundation and the U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs (Award Nos. NSF/OPP-0739515 and NSF/OPP-0739430), and the assistance of the Polar Geospatial Center (NSF Award No. ANT 1043681). We are grateful to the captain and mate of the yacht Pelagic, Christopher Harris and Magnus Day, for ensuring the safety and well-being of the Antarctic Site Inventory research team during their work period at Deception Island and would like to acknowledge the support and assistance of Peter Getzels, Harriet Getzels, Eric Osterholm, and Getzels Gordon Productions during the 2011–2012 Antarctic Site Inventory field season.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oceanites, Inc., P.O. Box 15259, Chevy Chase, MD, 20825, USA

    Ron Naveen & Steven Forrest

  2. Department of Ecology and Evolution, Stony Brook University, 640 Life Sciences Building, Stony Brook, NY, 11794, USA

    Heather J. Lynch

  3. Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (BiK-F), Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Thomas Mueller

  4. Department of Biology and Marine Biology, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA

    Michael Polito

Authors
  1. Ron Naveen
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  2. Heather J. Lynch
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  3. Steven Forrest
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  4. Thomas Mueller
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  5. Michael Polito
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heather J. Lynch.

Additional information

Ron Naveen and Heather J. Lynch—Joint first authors.

Appendix: Flying birds at Deception Island

Appendix: Flying birds at Deception Island

Our finding on the detection (presence) or non-detection (presumed absence) of flying birds are consistent with results described in Downie and Smellie (2001), with these additional observations:

  1. 1.

    Skuas (Catharacta spp.): An individual south polar skua was observed flying near Collins Point on December 8, 2011, but breeding was not observed. The melt pond south of the remains of the Hektor whaling station, which was observed on December 3, 7, 9, and 14, 2011, at all times hosted an assemblage of brown Skuas as well as apparent, hybrid Catharacta skuas.

  2. 2.

    Blue-eyed shag (Phalacrocorax atriceps): Since 2004, the Antarctic Site Inventory has recorded and observed nesting blue-eyed shags breeding on cliffs at the southern end of Whalers Bay. The number of nesting blue-eyed shags varies between 8 and 18.

  3. 3.

    Antarctic tern (Sterna vittata): Antarctic terns were frequently observed in the vicinity of our yacht anchorage in Stancombe Cove, and nesting in this vicinity is suspected.

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Naveen, R., Lynch, H.J., Forrest, S. et al. First direct, site-wide penguin survey at Deception Island, Antarctica, suggests significant declines in breeding chinstrap penguins. Polar Biol 35, 1879–1888 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-012-1230-3

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