Science

Frequently asked questions about the Antarctic Site Inventory

Why are we working in the Antarctic Peninsula?
What’s this project all about?

To census penguins and seabirds and to assemble site-specific data and information regarding an assortment of biological and physical variables.

The goal is to understand, more precisely, whether environmental changes are occurring and, if so, why they’re happening.

Importantly, Inventory-collected data and information directly assist the implementation of the landmark Antarctic Environmental Protocol, which was signed in 1991 and entered into full force and effect in 1998.

If changes are detected, Inventory data and information will help provide the basis for management decisions made by Antarctic Treaty countries under the Protocol, which conserve the continent for future generations.

What are we doing, precisely?
What’s being produced?

We’re doing lots of counting, mapping, and photography.

We conduct regular penguin and seabird nest and chick censuses at many sites during each November-to-February breeding season. Our primary platform for achieving these censuses is the National Geographic Endeavour.

These censuses are repeated from season-to-season so we may detect any significant population changes.

We also generate a wide range of site-descriptive information, including site-specific diversity checklists, orientation maps, and repetitive photodocumentation.

The orientation maps are produced using hand-held GPS (global positioning system) receivers. These maps are continually updated and enable Inventory researchers to return easily and readily to penguin or seabird colonies that are regularly censused. They also may be used by visitors to minimize, if not avoid, potential impacts to breeding wildlife at these sites.

There’s an ongoing effort to secure terrestrial and oblique photodocumentation of visitor sites, census colonies (and potential changes in the limit or extent of these colonies), and of site-specific topographic or physical features. The oblique aerial work stems from a cooperative effort between the Inventory and Her Majesty’s Royal Navy ship, HMS Endurance, using helicopters, coordinated by the Polar Regions Section, Overseas Territories Department, of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Oceanites, Inc.

The Inventory has begun to photodocument census colonies and site features using a kite-assisted digital camera.

Another ongoing effort is a site-specific photo-database of lichens and mosses.

Who started the project?

The Inventory is organized and managed under the auspices of Oceanites, Inc., a US-based, tax-exempt, nonprofit science and educational foundation. Oceanites was founded in 1987 by Ron Naveen, who also serves as the principal investigator of the Antarctic Site Inventory.

When did the Inventory begin collecting and compiling data?

November 1994.

Where are we working?
How is the Inventory study area defined?

Exclusively in the Antarctic Peninsula. The project divides the Peninsula into six subareas:

South Orkneys (SO), including Laurie, Coronation, and Signy Islands;
Elephant Island and nearby islands (EI);
South Shetland Islands (SH), including Deception, Low, and Smith Islands;
Northeast Antarctic Peninsula (NE), from Cape Dubouzet (63º16’S, 64º00’W) and Joinville Island (63º15’S, 55º45’W) to James Ross Island (64º10’S, 57º45’W);
Northwest Antarctic Peninsula (NW), from Cape Dubouzet (63º16’S, 64º00’W) to northern end of the Lemaire Channel (65º04’S, 63º57’W); and
Southwest Antarctic Peninsula (SW), from the northern end of the Lemaire Channel to the northern part of Marguerite Bay (68º18’S, 67º11’W).

How do we collect these census data?

Carefully and rigorously!

And by using hand-held clickers.

Depending on the species and the size or location being censused, this may involve counting all of a site’s penguins and seabirds, or smaller, well-defined groups or subcolonies.

Often, some long and painstaking hiking and climbing is necessary to reach our regular census colonies.

Field data are recorded in the researchers’ field notebooks. Later, these data are formally entered on a data sheet pertaining to that particular site visit.

Is there a “ best” time for counting?

Yes.

For penguin nest censuses, at the peak of egg-laying. In the case of Adélie, chinstrap, and gentoo penguins, which normally lay two eggs, this time period lasts for approximately a week to ten days, starting when there are two-egg clutches in a bare majority (51%) of a colony’s nests.

For penguin chick censuses, the crucial time is the peak of chick-crèching. This occurs when penguin chicks are 4-6 weeks of age, leave the area contiguous to their nests, and begin assembling in large groups called créches.

Why are these census data important?

To be blunt, because conservation doesn’t simply happen in a vacuum.

Everywhere — including in Antarctica, assessment and monitoring are the lynchpins of long-term environmental conservation.

It makes no difference whether the appropriate management authority is a local environmental agency or the consortium of Antarctic Treaty countries, there needs to be evidence that “things” really are changing.

Relevant data and information collected by the Inventory will allow retrospective comparisons and analyses to be made, which in turn illuminate available management options and ultimately, hopefully, will provide a sound basis to justify any management option that is selected.

As with all environmental conservation or management, decisions must be based on the best available scientific data and information. Otherwise, whatever is done may, just as easily, be undone.

How many Inventory site-visits have occurred?

Through February 2006, after 12 full seasons of data collection, Inventory researchers had made 704 visits to 103 Antarctic Peninsula locations, including all of the most heavily visited and attractive tourist sites.

Is a special permit needed for the Inventory to do its work?

Yes.

The Inventory and its researchers are permitted to do fieldwork under US Antarctic Conservation Act Permit No. 2005-005, which was issued to Oceanites, Inc. for the period 1 September 2004 to 31 August 2008.

The US Environmental Protection Agency has informed Oceanites that the project’s Initial Environmental Evaluation (IEE) — an environmental impact assessment required under the Protocol — has been reviewed in conjunction with other US agencies and has met all appropriate requirements.

Does this permit allow Inventory researchers to get close to penguins?

Yes.

And much closer than regular tourism visitors and guests.

The Antarctic Conservation Act permit acknowledges that Inventory researchers sometimes need to get very close to wildlife to conduct their censuses.

To make useful, retrospective comparisons, do you need to count all penguins at a particular site?

Not necessarily.

This is because Adélie and chinstrap penguins are strongly tied to specific nests and breeding sites, and return to the exact same nests season after season. These two species don’t tend to abandon their nests if there’s a breeding failure in a single season. It’s what we call a strong, or high, site fidelity. As a result, changes in smaller, discrete groups or subcolonies tell us much about how the entire population at that site may be changing. The Inventory, at many sites, conducts regular censuses of discrete Adélie and chinstrap groups, ranging up to 500 nests in size.

Gentoo penguins, by contrast, frequently change nest locations and may move their nests a considerable distance from season-to-season. As a result, for any meaningful data regarding gentoos at a particular site, all gentoo nests or chicks must be censused.

How can you tell whether a penguin colony is “successful”?

You can tell a colony’s productivity by determining how many chicks are produced per active nest. Statistically, that means dividing the number of chicks counted at the peak of chick-crèching by the number of nests counted at the peak of egg-laying.

But all eggs don’t hatch, many chicks perish (for various reasons), and clearly, all chicks don’t ultimately fledge and go to sea. So, with respect to Peninsula penguins, which lay two eggs, a productivity of 2.0 is never realized.

There can be wide variations in productivity. In some seasons, a productivity as high as 1.3 or 1.5 is possible. Then again, in some years a site may experience a total crash of penguin chicks, which means a productivity of zero.

What’s the Inventory’s overall plan of work?

In general, the Inventory relies upon opportunistic ship visits to examine the physical features, flora, and fauna of the Antarctic Peninsula, including the sites most heavily visited by expedition tourists.

Data are collected in accordance with Standard Methods for Monitoring Studies established by the Scientific Committee for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources.

To reiterate: there are key census periods in each breeding season — during the peak of penguin egg-laying for penguin nest counts and during the peak of penguin chick-crèching for penguin chick counts.

As mentioned, relying on the chinstraps’ and Adélies’ strong site fidelity, we’ve established regular censuses at many sites where we focus on discrete groups or subcolonies of these two species. Over time, this strategy enables a long-term assessment of population changes, even if all chinstraps and Adélies at a particular site can’t be counted.

Because gentoos present a weaker site fidelity, our strategy at gentoo study sites is to regularly census all nests and chicks.

At many sites, we’ve also begun to identify and census control colonies that aren’t visited regularly. By comparing data from these control colonies to data obtained at experimental colonies that are frequently visited, we hope to gain a better understanding of changes potentially relating to the amount of human visitation.

With respect to blue-eyed shags and southern giant petrels, meaningful census data requires that we census all nests or chicks at a particular site.

Are the data standardized?

Yes.

We collect all data pursuant to standard methods used throughout the Antarctic, which ensures that all data are statistically meaningful and comparable.

Our censusing methodology requires Inventory researchers to obtain three counts — whether of nests or chicks — that are within 8% of one another.

Where’s the Antarctic Site Inventory maintained?

On computers in the Oceanites home office.

After each site visit, Oceanites researchers enter data into an onboard computer, subsequently backing up such data so they’re not lost, and ultimately returned to the Oceanites office to be added to data and information compiled in previous seasons.

If you see the Inventory researchers “in action,” what will you notice?

If they’re engaged in census work, you’ll see them deliberately walking, hiking, or climbing around the perimeter of penguin and seabird colonies, then stopping often and counting using hand-held data clickers. Counts are read off of the face of the clickers, then logged, in pencil, into field notebooks.

If orientation maps are being developed, the researchers will be pacing a precise course around a study site, using a hand-held GPS (global positing system) device, taking readings all the way.

Or the researchers may be flying the project’s kite-assisted digital camera, photodocumenting assemblages of penguin or seabirds, or various physical features of the site.

What is done with Inventory-related data and information?

They’re used in a variety of ways.

Especially, for retrospective comparisons and analyses, which help detect changes in Peninsula fauna and flora populations. The results of these comparisons and analyses spur efforts to minimize and avoid any direct, immediate, or long-term impacts from human activities.

A population change, for example, would be indicated if there’s a significant increase or decrease in the number of active nests over time.

If changes are detected, the next — and much more difficult — task is ascertaining whether such changes are naturally occurring or result from some human interaction.

Importantly, in collaboration with Dr. William Fagan’s Conservation Biology, Community Ecology, and Theoretical Ecology Lab at the University Of Maryland, Oceanites intends comprehensive analyses of long-term Antarctic data sets. It is hoped that by combining Antarctic Site Inventory data with, and then analyzing, other long-term data sets on biological and physical aspects of the Antarctic Peninsula, we will glean a better understanding of changes occurring in this ecosystem.

Oceanites makes all data and information collected by the Antarctic Site Inventory available worldwide, readily and easily, and to all who are interested. Analyses of the Inventory database are intended for publication in scientific papers and referenced in popular publications.

Already, Antarctic Treaty countries rely on the Inventory database in their effort to fashion management guidelines for tourism visits to species-diverse, environmentally sensitive locations.

Which are the most important and the most recent Inventory publications?

To date, key publications detailing Inventory results include:

Naveen, R., Compendium of Antarctic Peninsula Visitor Sites, 2d edition: A Report to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (2003)
Naveen, R., The Oceanites Site Guide to the Antarctic Peninsula, 2d edition, Oceanites, Inc., Chevy Chase, Maryland, USA (2005).

Recent, peer-reviewed papers generated by Inventory researchers include:

Forrest, S. and Naveen, R., Prevalence of Leucism in Pygoscelid Penguins of the Antarctic Peninsula, Waterbirds 23 (2): 283-285 (2000).
Naveen, R., Forrest, S. C., Dagit, R., Blight, L. K., Trivelpiece, W. Z., and Trivelpiece, S. G.: Censuses of penguin, blue-eyed shag, and southern giant petrel populations in the Antarctic Peninsula region, 1994-2000, Polar Record 36 (199): 323-334 (2000).
Naveen, R., Forrest, S. C., Dagit, R., Blight, L. K., Trivelpiece, W. Z., and Trivelpiece, S. G.: Zodiac landings by tourist ships in the Antarctic Peninsula region, 1989-99, Polar Record 37 (201): 121-132 (2001).

Data summaries also are presented regularly to annual meetings of the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Parties.

Why and how does the Inventory assist long-term conservation of the Antarctic?

Because, with data in hand, there are sensible management options available under the Antarctic Environmental Protocol.

However, without the underlying data — for example, data indicating that a site’s penguin or shag population is declining significantly, steps can’t be instituted to ensure that various human activities aren’t causing or exacerbating the problem.

How does the Treaty work, in general?

By consensus.

All voting countries must agree to a proposed recommendation, which sometimes means that action is slow and may require long discussion and debate.

After recommendations, site designations, and any Protocol management plans are adopted, they must be implemented by regulations in each “home” country, which apply to that country’s nationals.

What’s happened under the Treaty regarding visitors and conservation?

There already exists Treaty Recommendation XVIII-1 (1994), which established guidelines regarding the conduct of visitors and operators. These are applied routinely throughout the Antarctic tour industry and have greatly assisted the management of tourism activities by expedition staff.

Another avenue is Annex V of the Protocol, which calls for “area protection and management,” if necessary. Annex V requires a management plan approved by all Treaty Parties, which, then, is implemented by regulations in each Treaty country.

Under this authority, certain sites can be totally protected and made completely off-limits to all visitors, without a special permit. These designations are called Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs).

Alternatively, if a site is shown to be particularly sensitive to environmental disruptions from visitors, it may be designated as an Antarctic Specially Managed Area (ASMA), which requires a management plan and a visitors’ code of conduct.

This code may manage access to or movement within a site, as well as the time and place of human activities. As examples, code provisions might suggest: avoiding visits to “control colonies” that are being censused and monitored regularly; restricting the timing of visits at a particular site to avoid disrupting penguin chicks when they are most vulnerable; or setting minimum distances from nests of skittish species like southern giant petrels.

At the June 2006 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meetings, site management guidelines for 11 key sites were adopted, relying upon data and information in Antarctic Site Inventory. All of these sites are regularly censused by the Inventory.

How are Treaty recommendations enforced?

Keep in mind that, under the Treaty, everyone is allowed free, peaceful, and respectful access to Antarctica — assuming they can get there safely!

But there is no international Antarctic police force.

As said, each country must ensure that its nationals abide by the rules and recommendations that the Treaty adopts by consensus. So, essentially, each country is responsible for enacting laws and regulations with respect to the Antarctic activities of its own citizens.

Are some sites more diverse or more sensitive to potential environmental disruptions?

Yes.

The Inventory has ranked sites in terms of both species diversity and potential for environmental disruptions (Naveen, R., Forrest, S. C., Dagit, R., Blight, L. K., Trivelpiece, W. Z., and Trivelpiece, S. G.: Zodiac landings by tourist ships in the Antarctic Peninsula region, 1989-99, Polar Record 37 (201): 121-132 (2001)).

The five Peninsula sites found to have high species diversity are: Hannah Point (SH), Penguin Island (SH), the Aitcho Islands (SH), Cuverville Island (NW), and Fort Point (SH). The fifteen Peninsula sites determined to have medium species diversity are: Arctowski Station (SH), Astrolabe Island (NW), Baily Head (SH), Brown Bluff (NE), Half Moon Island (SH), Heroína Island (NE), Port Lockroy (NW), Point Lookout (EI), Orne Island (NW), Paulet Island (NE), Petermann Island (SW), Pléneau Island (SW), Turret Point (SH), Whaler’s Bay (SH), and Yankee Harbor (SH).

The four Peninsula sites found to have high sensitivity to potential disturbances by visitors are: Hannah Point (SH), Penguin Island (SH), the Aitcho Islands (SH), and Turret Point (SH). The nine Peninsula sites determined to have moderate sensitivity to potential disturbances are: Brown Bluff (NE), Fort Point (SH), Gourdin Island (NW), Orne Island (NW), Paulet Island (NE), Petermann Island (SW), Pléneau Island (SW), Georges Point, Rongé Island (NW), and Waterboat Point (NW)

Do Inventory data indicate any population declines?

Yes.

Peninsula blue-eyed shag populations are declining significantly at many Peninsula locations (Naveen, R., Forrest, S. C., Dagit, R., Blight, L. K., Trivelpiece, W. Z., and Trivelpiece, S. G.: Censuses of penguin, blue-eyed shag, and southern giant petrel populations in the Antarctic Peninsula region, 1994-2000, Polar Record 36 (199): 323-334 (2000)).

Many of these colonies are either inaccessible to tourists or receive few tourist visits, so human disturbance appears to be an unlikely cause.

The population declines suggest that blue-eyed shag numbers should be further monitored, and that they may indicate some underlying environmental change affecting shag nest success.

What about global climate change?

It’s a reality.

Based on climate data collected over the last 50 years, the Peninsula has warmed by 5ºF., year-round. In Peninsula winters over these five decades, the increase has been by 9ºF.

We now can walk many Peninsula beaches that, fifteen years ago were covered by glaciers.

The warmer winters translate to lighter-than-normal ice cover. Ordinarily thick ice provides protection for larval krill, which migrate upward in the water column during the Antarctic winter. But lacking this buffer, many juvenile krill are “eaten before their time.”

Since krill are the “power lunch” of the Antarctic, providing abundant protein for penguins, seals, and whales, there is some concern that any significant diminution of the standing krill stock may have significant impacts on these other organisms, which are higher in the food chain.

What’s the relationship of krill and climate to penguins?

The mantra is simple:

For all biological creatures, including us humans, everything depends on four factors — food, sex, weather, and breeding territory.

If all are in synch, a species will survive and flourish.

If not, there will be problems.

For example, regarding the shag declines the Inventory has detected, shag sex seems to be a excellent as ever, and there are many available breeding ledges. The cause, therefore, may result from a warming Antarctic climate, or different distribution for fish prey the shags prefer.

If I’m concerned about Antarctica’s future, to which group or organization should I contribute?
Do other organizations help conserve Antarctica?

We would trust that you’d consider Oceanites!

Why? Because the Antarctic Site Inventory is the only, publicly supported research project working in Antarctica. The only one. No other US-based or international wildlife or environmental nongovernmental organization (NGO) directly supports field studies in the Antarctic. And no other group or organization funds work that directly assists ongoing monitoring needs of Antarctic Treaty countries.

In short, keeping in mind that assessment and monitoring are vital, a donation to Oceanites and the Antarctic Site Inventory menas that you’ll be contributing directly to the long-term conservation of the Antarctic. Your support ensures that the Inventory’s data collection and information delivery will continue.

Why isn’t the Inventory supported more substantially by other Antarctic Treaty countries?
Why is public support necessary?

Governments are reluctant to fund assessment and monitoring projects for the simple reason that, to succeed, these projects need to operate over long time frames, rather than in the more immediate “present.”

Governments rarely fund multiyear efforts that have no ascertainable end date, and which rely on retrospective data comparisons and analyses.

In other words, projects that approach work in terms of geologic time don’t sit well with bureaucrats and budget analysts.

That said, when the Inventory began in 1994, there was start-up funding from the US National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs. In part, this related to concerns at that time about the potential impacts of tourism. Over time, there also has been occasional support from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Marine Mammal Commission.

Oceanites continues nurturing governmental support for long-term monitoring of key Antarctic Peninsula sites, which it intends to begin in the 2003-04 season, and for its efforts to distribute data and information the inventory has collected to the international Antarctic community.

Are contributions to Oceanites deductible?

Yes, by US citizens.
Oceanites is a tax-exempt §501(c)(3) organization and contributions are fully tax-deductible.

How do I contact Oceanites?

The foundation’s mailing address, phone number, and email address are:
Oceanites, Inc.
P.O. Box 15259
Chevy Chase, MD 20825 USA
202-237-6262
oceanites.mail@verizon.net

And via the Oceanites website — www.oceanites.org