Breeding success records for Adelie penguins on Bechervaise Island, Mawson, span from the 1990-91 season onward. Data include counts of occupied nests and chicks at key breeding stages, with breeding success calculated as chicks per occupied nest. The dataset was produced by the Australian Antarctic Data Centre as part of ASAC Project 2205, with a last recorded update in 2005.
Use Cases
- Model annual breeding success trends using the 'Year' and 'Breeding success' columns.
- Analyze the relationship between initial 'Occupied nests' counts and final chick production.
- Compare penguin colony productivity across different counting stages: incubating nest, brooding chick, 2/3-creche, and fully-creche counts.
- Investigate inter-annual variability in population metrics derived from manual field counts.
Strengths
- Data collection spans over 15 breeding seasons, starting in 1990-91.
- Counts are validated via a manual triple-count method where counts within 10% are averaged.
Limitations
- The dataset's temporal coverage ends with a last update in 2005, making it over 15 years old.
- Specific row counts, column details, and sample sizes are unknown.
Provenance
- Source
- Australian Antarctic Data Centre (AU_AADC) via NASA Earthdata.
- Collection Method
- Manual field counts by observers, with each colony counted three times at specific breeding stages.
- Time Range
- From 1990-91 season onward.
- Freshness
- null
- Geography
- Bechervaise Island, Mawson, Antarctica.