Population estimates of emperor penguins, Mawson coast, Antarctica

Metadata record for data from ASAC Project 484See the link below for public details on this project.---- Public Summary from Project ----Emperor penguins are the only birds that breed in the Antarctic winter. They feed mainly on fish and squid but also ingest krill. Changes in food availability due to oceanographic or climatic factors, or to the extent of sea ice (through the processes of global warming) will have a direct impact on the breeding success and population size of the penguins. By counting the number of males that incubate at mid-winter each year, we can monitor trends in their population size. Counts of fledglings in spring (November) tell us how successful the penguins bred.The download file contains an excel spreadsheet which presents a summary of known Emperor Penguin colonies in the area of the Australian Antarctic Territory (AAT), and a file which details counts of male emperor penguins at the Taylor Glacier colony.A description of the column headings used in the spreadsheet is below.Colony: Colony namelat, long: latitude and longitude of colonydiscovered: date colony was discoveredcurrent est pop (BP): Current estimated population size in breeding pairs - current as at date the colony was last seenlast seen: date the colony was last seencounting method: method used to count the breeding pairs in the colonycomments: any applicable commentsreference: references relating to the colonyTaken from the 2009-2010 Progress Report:Public summary of the season progress:Population size of colonies fluctuates which is why long term monitoring studies are necessary to detect trends. At the emperor penguin colony at Taylor Glacier, monitored continuously since 1988, a slight downward trend is apparent but is not (yet?) statistically significant. The colony was visited three times: once in winter to obtain an estimate of the number of adults in the colony (roughly equivalent to the number of breeding pairs), and twice during the late chick rearing season to estimate breeding success. The count of adults in 2009 was the lowest on record. Reasons for this are still unknown.

本数据集为ASAC项目484的元数据记录，该项目的公开详情可参见下方链接。
——项目公开摘要——
帝企鹅（Emperor Penguin）是唯一一种在南极冬季繁殖的鸟类。它们主要以鱼类和鱿鱼为食，同时也会捕食磷虾。海洋学因素、气候因素变化，或是全球变暖进程下的海冰范围变动，均会直接影响帝企鹅的繁殖成功率与种群规模。通过统计每年仲冬时节参与孵卵的雄帝企鹅数量，我们可以监测其种群规模的变化趋势。春季（11月）的离巢幼鸟数量统计结果，则可反映帝企鹅的繁殖成效。
下载文件包含一份Excel电子表格，汇总了澳大利亚南极领地（Australian Antarctic Territory, AAT）范围内已知的帝企鹅聚居地信息；另有一份文件详细记录了泰勒冰川（Taylor Glacier）聚居地的雄帝企鹅数量统计数据。
下述为该电子表格的列标题说明：
Colony：聚居地名称
lat, long：聚居地的经纬度
discovered：聚居地被发现的日期
current est pop (BP)：截至最近一次观测该聚居地日期的当前估算繁殖种群规模（单位：繁殖对）
last seen：该聚居地最后一次被观测到的日期
counting method：该聚居地繁殖对的统计方法
comments：相关备注信息
reference：与该聚居地相关的参考文献
以下内容节选自2009-2010年度进度报告：
本繁育季进展公开摘要：
聚居地的种群规模存在波动，因此开展长期监测研究以探测种群变化趋势至关重要。自1988年起持续监测的泰勒冰川（Taylor Glacier）帝企鹅聚居地，其种群规模已呈现小幅下降趋势，但目前该趋势尚未达到统计学显著性水平。该聚居地先后开展了三次野外调查：冬季一次，用于估算聚居地的成鸟数量（大致等同于繁殖对数量）；育雏后期两次，用于评估繁殖成功率。2009年的成鸟数量统计值为有记录以来的最低值，其成因目前仍不明确。