The Distribution and Diets of Penguins in Winter: Implications for Demography.

在位于南极半岛乔治王岛的金钟湾进行的长期海鸟研究记录了阿德利企鹅、正图企鹅和金丝雀企鹅繁殖生物学和生态的生活史参数的年度变异性。20年来关于这些物种的记录，包括生存和招募、种群规模和繁殖成功，以及食物和觅食生态学，使科学家能够检验关于这些捕食者参数与南极海洋生态系统变异性之间的联系的关键假设。目前，还没有南极半岛已知的Adele或Chinstrap种群冬季分布的数据，只有有限的冬季饮食数据。这种对冬季环境的物理和生物特征可能对企鹅的分布、生存和未来繁殖状况重要的认识差距是至关重要的。该项目将侧重于了解自然环境和企鹅种群生物学之间的联系，特别是海冰覆盖及其对作为企鹅食物来源的磷虾供应的影响。磷虾是南极海洋中一种关键的食物网物种，占须鲸、海豹和企鹅等主要捕食者捕食的猎物的近100%。对长期数据集的分析表明，多年的严冬海冰有利于磷虾的补充，因为幼体磷虾在海冰栖息地寻找避难所和食物。人们还观察到，多年的厚重海冰有利于阿德利企鹅的招募，而不是chinstrap企鹅的招募。工作内容包括食物样本分析、船上磷虾采样、企鹅存活和招募研究、繁殖期和非繁殖期企鹅的卫星跟踪，以及卫星海冰图像分析。企鹅是用于监测该区域商业渔业活动影响的关键物种，因此这项研究将为《南极海洋生物资源养护公约》提供有用的信息，该公约是侧重于生态系统管理的《南极条约》体系的一部分。

Long-term seabird research conducted at Admiralty Bay, which is located on King George Island in the Antarctic Peninsula region, has documented annual variability in the life history parameters of the breeding biology and ecology of the Adelie, gentoo and chinstrap penguins. Twenty-year records acquired on these species, including survival and recruitment, population size and breeding success, and diets and foraging ecology have enable scientists to test key hypotheses regarding the linkage between these predator parameters and variability in the Antarctic marine ecosystem. At present, there is no data in the winter distributions of known Adelie or chinstrap populations from the Antarctic Peninsula and only limited data on winter diets. This gap in knowledge of what features of the winter environment, both physical and biological may be important to the distribution, survival and future breeding status of penguins is critical. This project will focus on understanding the linkages between the physical environment and the population biology of penguins, in particular, sea ice coverage and its impact on krill availability as a food source for penguins. Krill is a key food web species in the Antarctic oceans and accounts for nearly one hundred percent of the prey eaten by dominant predators such as baleen whales, seals and penguins. Analysis of long-term data sets has suggested that years of heavy winter sea ice favor krill recruitment, as larval krill find refuge and food in the sea ice habitat. It has also been observed that years of heavy sea ice favor Adelie penguin recruitment and not that of chinstrap penguins. Aspects of the work include analysis of diet samples, shipboard krill sampling, survival and recruitment studies of penguins, satellite tracking of penguins during the breeding and non-breeding season, and analysis of satellite sea ice images. Penguins are the key species used to monitor the impact of commercial fisheries activities in the region, so this study will provide useful information to the convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, which is the part of the Antarctic Treaty System which focuses on Ecosystem management.