Data from: A remote-controlled observatory for behavioural and ecological research: a case study on emperor penguins

1. Long-term photographic recordings of animal populations provide unique insights in ecological and evolutionary processes. However, image acquisition at remote locations under harsh climatic conditions is highly challenging. 2. We present a robust, energetically self-sufficient and remote-controlled observatory designed to operate year-round in the Antarctic at temperatures below -50 °C and wind speeds above 150 km/h. The observatory is equipped with multiple overview cameras and a high resolution steerable camera with a telephoto lens for capturing images with high spatial and temporal resolution. 3. Our observatory has been in operation since 2013 to investigate an emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colony at Atka Bay near the German Neumayer III research station. Data recorded by this observatory give novel biological insights in animal life cycle and demographic trends, but also in collective and individual behaviour. As an example, we present data showing how wind speed and direction influence movements of the entire colony and of individual penguins. We also estimate daily fluctuations in the total number of individuals present at the breeding site. 4. Our results demonstrate that remote-controlled observation systems can bridge the gap between remote sensing, simple time-lapse recording setups, and on-site observations by human investigators to collect unique biological datasets of undisturbed animal populations.1. 针对动物种群的长期影像记录，可为生态学与演化过程研究提供独特视角。然而，在气候严苛的偏远区域开展图像采集工作，往往极具挑战性。 2. 我们研发了一款稳健可靠、能源自给且支持远程操控的野外观测站，可在南极地区常年运行，耐受-50℃以下低温与150 km/h以上的强风。该观测站搭载多台全景相机，以及一台配备长焦镜头的高分辨率可操控云台相机，能够获取兼具高空间与时间分辨率的影像。 3. 本观测站自2013年起投入运行，用于研究德国诺伊迈耶三号（Neumayer III）科考站附近阿特卡湾的帝企鹅（Aptenodytes forsteri）种群群落。该观测站采集的数据，不仅为动物生命周期、种群动态趋势研究提供了全新生物学视角，也为集体与个体行为分析带来了新的认知。举例而言，我们展示的相关数据揭示了风速与风向如何影响整个种群群落以及单个企鹅的移动模式，同时我们还估算了繁殖栖息地内个体总数的每日波动情况。 4. 本研究结果表明，远程操控观测系统能够弥合遥感技术、简易延时摄影装置与人类研究者实地观测之间的技术鸿沟，从而获取未受干扰的野生动物种群的独特生物学数据集。