Antarctica Peninsula Compendium, 3rd Ed. 3/15/2011 PDF
Preview Antarctica Peninsula Compendium, 3rd Ed. 3/15/2011
(cid:4)(cid:69)(cid:100)(cid:4)(cid:90)(cid:18)(cid:100)(cid:47)(cid:18)(cid:3) PENINSULA COMPENDIUM (cid:1007)(cid:396)(cid:282)(cid:3)(cid:28)(cid:282)(cid:349)(cid:415)(cid:381)(cid:374) (cid:90)(cid:381)(cid:374)(cid:3)(cid:69)(cid:258)(cid:448)(cid:286)(cid:286)(cid:374) (cid:44)(cid:286)(cid:258)(cid:410)(cid:346)(cid:286)(cid:396)(cid:3)(cid:62)(cid:455)(cid:374)(cid:272)(cid:346) (cid:75)(cid:272)(cid:286)(cid:258)(cid:374)(cid:349)(cid:410)(cid:286)(cid:400)(cid:853)(cid:3)(cid:47)(cid:374)(cid:272)(cid:856) (cid:87)(cid:75)(cid:3)(cid:17)(cid:381)(cid:454)(cid:3)(cid:1005)(cid:1009)(cid:1006)(cid:1009)(cid:1013) (cid:18)(cid:346)(cid:286)(cid:448)(cid:455)(cid:3)(cid:18)(cid:346)(cid:258)(cid:400)(cid:286)(cid:853)(cid:3)(cid:68)(cid:24)(cid:3)(cid:104)(cid:94)(cid:4)(cid:3)(cid:1006)(cid:1004)(cid:1004)(cid:1005)(cid:1009) (cid:68)(cid:258)(cid:396)(cid:272)(cid:346)(cid:3)(cid:1005)(cid:1009)(cid:853)(cid:3)(cid:1006)(cid:1004)(cid:1005)(cid:1005) 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS page Introductions 5 Part I Design, Purpose, and Goals of the Antarctic Site Inventory List of Sites (alphabetical) 9 Part II Site Descriptions Species Presence / Absence Codes 15 Census Data Codes 16 Map of Antarctic Site Inventory Regions 17 Central Western (CW) Region Site List + Map 19 Elephant Island (EI) Region Site List + Map 23 Northeastern (NE) Region Site List + Map 24 Northwestern (NW) Region Site List + Map 26 South Orkney Islands (SO) Region Site List + Map 27 South Shetland Islands (SH) Region Site List + Map 28 Southwestern (SW) Region Site List + Map 30 Part III Selected ASI Publications, Bibliography & Appendices Selected ASI Publications ASI Censuses, 1994-‐2000 (Naveen et al. 2000) 244 ASI Censuses, 2001-‐2007 (Lynch et al. 2008) 256 Bibliography 271 Appendices ASMA No. 4 Management Plan (Deception Island) 278 ASPA No. 4 Management Plan (Green Island) 292 ASPA No. 117 Management Plan (Avian Island) 295 ASPA No. 134 Management Plan (Cierva Point) 312 ASPA No. 139 Management Plan (Biscoe Point) 321 ASPA No. 140 Management Plan (Parts of Deception Island) 336 ASPA No. 145 Management Plan (Port Foster, Deception Island) 355 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Oceanites, Inc. greatly appreciates support from the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Polar Regions Unit of the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office that assisted the production of this 3rd edition of the Compendium. For logistics assistance in reaching key, albeit rarely-‐censused penguin breeding locations, we are grateful to HM Royal Navy and to the US National Science Foundation and the officers and crew of the R/V Lawrence M. Gould. We also thank Lindblad Expeditions for more than a decade of assistance with Antarctic Site Inventory data collection, and thank Marathon Tours, Aurora Expeditions, and the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) and other member companies for their ongoing support. Oceanites is especially indebted to Dr. William Fagan, Dr. Heather Lynch, and colleagues at The Fagan Lab, University of Maryland, for assistance with the Inventory’s seminal data analyses; and to the officers and crew of the HMS Endurance, Lawrence M. Gould, and National Geographic Explorer for unstinting efforts assisting the collection of valuable field data. Oceanites, Inc. gratefully acknowledges grant awards and funding for the Antarctic Site Inventory since its inception from the Tinker Foundation, Inc., the Jeniam Foundation, Environmental Defense, Inc., the US National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the US Marine Mammal Commission, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Polar Regions Unit) and the Government of the British Antarctic Territory, the Cincinnati Zoo and Biological Garden, The National Geographic Society, and many private contributors. There is special appreciation to an expert cohort whose advice and cooperation, since 1994, has greatly assisted the Antarctic Site Inventory: J. M. Acero, C. A. Aguirre, R. Arnaudo, J. Bengston, R. Bowman, P. Clarkson, J. Cooper, K. Crosbie, J. Croxall, A. Dahood, R. Downie, D. Elliot, S. Emslie, N. Gilbert, M. Goebel, T. Hart, R. Headland, J. Heap, A. Hessert, R. Hofman, R. Holt, J. Jatko, N. Kennedy, R. Lewis-‐Smith, A. Nimon, P. Penhale, P. Prince, M. Richardson, J. Rumble, R. Sanchez, R. T. Scully, J. Shears, B. Stonehouse, J. Thompson, V. Timofeev, V. Trohymets, J. Twiss, W. Trivelpiece, S. Trivelpiece, J. Valencia, D. W. H. Walton, J. Warren, and E. Woehler. At the end of the day, the basic raw materials for the Compendium are data sheets, field notes, and maps generated by field staff of the Antarctic Site Inventory, and the effort of these gritty, determined investigators is very deeply appreciated and valued: Matthew Becker Steven Forrest Aileen Miller Louise Blight Louise Forrest Thomas Mueller Rebecka Brasso Douglas Gould Richard Polatty Stacey Buckelew Evan Grant Michael Polito Ian Bullock Brent Houston Melissa Rider John Carlson Toby Kaufman Iris Saxer Laura Carlson Harry Keys Laina Shill Paula Casanovas Kristy Kroeker Katie Schneider Rosemary Dagit Elise Larsen Richard White Matthew Drennan Holly Martinson Elise Zipkin Chris Edelen Megan McOsker 4 Introduction to the 3rd Edition by Ron Naveen President, founder of Oceanites, Inc. Co-‐Principal Investigator, Antarctic Site Inventory This revision updates the Compendium of Antarctic Peninsula Visitor Sites, 2nd edition to cover the 142 sites that have been visited and censused by Antarctic Site Inventory (ASI) researchers in 17 field seasons from November 1994 through February 2011 — an increase in coverage by 60 sites. These 142 locations include sites that are regularly visited by tourists or other visitors, sites with historic census data, national research stations, and a few Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas (ASMAs) that are off-‐limits to tourists that ASI researchers have visited pursuant to appropriate permits under the U.S. Antarctic Conservation Act. Critically, data from all of these sites assist the analyses presently underway to assess the drivers of change in the vastly warming Antarctic Peninsula ecosystem, where it is warming faster — or as fast — as any other location on Earth. In collaboration with colleagues at The Fagan Lab (University of Maryland) and extending recently to The Lynch Lab (Stony Brook University), our analytical goal is to monitor penguin population trends and to use these trends to understand how ecological communities are changing in response to a suite of potential environmental, anthropogenic, or other stressors. Because of the comprehensive spatial and temporal nature of our analyses, as well as recognizing that the Compendium assists everyone who's connected with or interested in the Antarctic Treaty system — from scientists and diplomats to tourism operators, their expedition staff, and environmentalists, we have renamed this 3rd edition the Antarctic Site Compendium. This new edition revises Antarctic Peninsula regional maps, updates site-‐specific species presence/absence information, and summarizes recent ASI census data for each site (with brief comments, as appropriate, whether populations are increasing or decreasing). Previous site descriptions have been updated and, as well, this 3rd edition incorporates all site-‐ specific visitation guidelines in the Antarctic Peninsula adopted by Antarctic Treaty countries through the 2010 Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting. Appropriate notice appears in descriptions of “off limits” sites to help ensure that ASPA and ASMA boundaries are not encroached, and that advance notice is provided to stations before visiting. The Treaty’s site guidelines reflect efforts of Oceanites and the Antarctic Site Inventory to compile a database that assists the implementation of the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty. The Antarctic Site Inventory began collecting data in November 1994, recognizing that the 1991 Protocol, among other things, would require a priori environmental impact assessments for all human activities and, as well, called for monitoring, as and when necessary, to ensure that activities do not have unacceptable environmental impacts. Those of us who have worked on and for the Inventory are enormously gratified by our effort over 17 seasons, utilizing opportunistic shipboard visits to meaningfully characterize these sites, examine changes in the populations of key indicator species, collect relevant data in a repetitive and rigorous fashion from visit-‐to-‐visit and season-‐to-‐season, and utilize cutting-‐edge statistical methods in our analyses. In terms of monitoring of potential environmental impacts, as described in my colleague and co-‐ author Heather Lynch’s introduction, the ASI database now is used to analyze how the entire Antarctic 5 Peninsula region is changing — for example, whether or not detected penguin population changes are related to food (krill and fish distribution and abundance), disease, oceanography, other changes in the physical environment, or a synergy of these factors. Because Oceanites is the only non-‐governmental, publicly supported, organization doing scientific research in Antarctica, I’m immensely proud of the contribution the Antarctic Site Inventory has made — and, hopefully, will continue to make — to the Antarctic Treaty system. Reflecting comments from many who use the Compendium regularly, a number of formatting changes have been incorporated in this revision. In contrast to earlier editions, site descriptions are now arranged alphabetically for quicker access. Another change from the 2nd edition: the northwestern (NW) and southwestern (SW) regions have been repartitioned into three regions — northwestern (NW), central western (CW), and southwestern (SW) to better reflect the spatial distribution of visitor landing sites. Finally, this new edition eliminates the myriad "zodiac landing" tables from previous editions, because these data are available readily elsewhere, for example, on the IAATO website. PART I of this new edition describes various aspects of the Antarctic Site Inventory project, including: Design, Purpose, and Goals of the Antarctic Site Inventory; and details regarding the nongovernmental education and science organization Oceanites, Inc. PART II contains descriptions of the 142 sites Inventory researchers have censused or surveyed from November 1994 through February 2011, arranged alphabetically. PART III contains reprints of key papers regarding the work of the Antarctic Site Inventory and a bibliography of additional papers that relate to Antarctic tourism and conservation. 6 Introduction to the 3rd Edition by Heather Lynch Senior Research Associate, Oceanites, Inc. Co-‐Principal Investigator, Antarctic Site Inventory Since the last edition of the Compendium, The Antarctic Site Inventory project has expanded its data collection and analysis efforts considerably. Through our partnership with the University of Maryland, we have entered a new era of scientific analysis that focuses explicitly, but not exclusively, on three goals: • to find and map every penguin breeding colony in the Antarctic Peninsula region (including the South Shetland and South Orkney Islands), • to use ASI census data to maintain updated estimates of total regional penguin populations and to contribute these data to estimates of global penguin populations, and • to monitor penguin population trends and to use these trends to understand how ecological communities may be changing in response to a suite of environmental or other anthropogenic stressors. In addition to our historic focus on penguins and other seabirds, we are expanding our monitoring efforts with a new project that will catalogue moss and lichen biodiversity in this region, adopting a new approach based on photographic sampling that promises to greatly improve our understanding of processes driving floral biodiversity in the Antarctic. In the last few years, we have used ASI data to show a southward migration of gentoo penguin breeding and extremely rapid population growth in newly established colonies at their southern range boundary. We have used the comprehensive spatial coverage of the ASI to update estimates of the global population of gentoo penguins and found that significant population increases resulting from climate change warrant re-‐evaluation of their “Near Threatened” IUCN status. As well, our data have provided unambiguous evidence that chinstrap penguins are declining rapidly throughout the Antarctic Peninsula region, despite a loss of sea ice that was thought to be to their benefit. Despite the methodological challenges inherent to opportunistic data collection, we have repeatedly demonstrated its utility for monitoring ecosystems on the Antarctic Peninsula, and intend to continue pushing the envelope on low-‐footprint, spatially-‐extensive ecological monitoring. In collaboration with the Antarctic Geospatial Information Center at the University of Minnesota (AGIC), we also have initiated a new program to integrate high-‐resolution commercial satellite imagery into our monitoring program through the creation of a complete catalogue of satellite imagery for each location in the ASI. Using census data from the ASI and this regional catalogue of penguin breeding colonies, we will be able to construct statistical models for population abundance that will allow us to track penguin populations, and identify new or undiscovered colonies, in future years. This integration of statistics, imagery analysis, and field work is a genuinely unique synthetic approach to regional-‐scale monitoring which will significantly advance our understanding of penguin population dynamics in this region and will serve as a prototype for similar integrated monitoring programs in other remote locations around the world. We are committed to maintaining the most comprehensive and up-‐to-‐date environmental database of Antarctic Peninsula sites available and invite all corrections, updates, or new data that may be used to improve future editions of the Antarctic Peninsula Compendium. 7 8 DESIGN, PURPOSE AND GOALS OF THE ANTARCTIC SITE INVENTORY The Antarctic Site Inventory began fieldwork in November 1994, examining whether opportunistic visits can be used: 1. to effectively and economically detect possible visitor-‐caused changes in the physical features, flora, and fauna of sites in the Antarctic Peninsula being visited repeatedly by ship-‐based tourists; 2. to collect baseline information necessary to detect possible changes in the physical and biological variables being monitored; and 3. to determine how best to minimize or avoid possible environmental impacts of tourism and non-‐governmental activities in the Antarctic Peninsula area. The Antarctic Site Inventory has demonstrated an ability to reach Antarctic Peninsula visitor sites frequently and cost-‐effectively, relying opportunistically on expedition tour vessels and, occasionally, the United Kingdom / HM Royal Navy ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance and the U.S. National Science Foundation vessel Lawrence M. Gould for logistics support. Well-‐timed visits by trained researchers have proved an effective means of characterizing sites and for collecting relevant biological data (Naveen 1996; Naveen 1997; Naveen et al. 2001; Naveen 2003). Data collected by the Inventory are intended to assist the implementation of the 1991 Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty, which, among other things, requires a priori environmental impact assessments for all activities for which advance notification is required, including tourism, and for monitoring to be done, as and when necessary, to assess and verify predicted environmental impacts. The Inventory is the only project monitoring penguin and seabird populations throughout the Peninsula, and the only project regularly censusing the species-‐diverse, environmentally sensitive tourism sites now subject to site visitation guidelines adopted under the aegis of the Antarctic Treaty. The project involves two interconnected research activities: continued, long-‐term monitoring and censusing by the Antarctic Site Inventory of penguin and seabird populations throughout the Antarctic Peninsula using opportunistic ship-‐based data collection; and the synthesis and quantitative analyses of numerous datasets detailing long-‐term environmental changes at diverse sites throughout the Peninsula. These syntheses and analyses intend to: • characterize decadal scale changes in these populations throughout the Peninsula; • discern how Antarctic species are changing in abundance, relative abundance, and spatial distribution; • identify the factors specifically driving these long-‐term changes; • understand how Peninsula biological and physical processes, as well as direct/cumulative impacts from human activities, may connect; • identify the likely drivers of population shifts (both numerical and spatial); and • forecast Peninsula-‐wide changes in the relative balance between the three pygoscelid penguin species. The Inventory is creating fully digitized and annotated GPS maps for all of the locations in the Inventory. These maps include both biologically relevant information such as the location and boundaries of breeding bird colonies, as well as information on zodiac landing sites, commonly used 9 visitor trails, locations of historical sites and markers such as cairns and stakes. Where appropriate, map locations are associated with regular and repeated photodocumentation of sensitive features such as lichen and moss assemblages. With respect to penguins and flying birds, the focus is collecting data on the key biological variables of breeding population size (nest counts) and breeding productivity (number of chicks per active nest), which are the appropriate biological parameters for detecting direct and cumulative impacts on these populations. The Antarctic Site Inventory project is managed and operated by Oceanites, Inc., a non-‐profit science and education foundation based in Chevy Chase, Maryland USA, pursuant to U.S. Antarctic Conservation Act permits and a determination by the US Environmental Protection Agency that the multi-‐year Initial Environmental Evaluation submitted by Oceanites and the Antarctic Site Inventory meets the criteria established in 40 §8.4(c) of the US Code Of Federal Regulations. Ron Naveen is the founder and chief executive officer of Oceanites, Inc., and the principal investigator of the Antarctic Site Inventory project. Further information about Oceanites and the Antarctic Site Inventory may be obtained via the Oceanites website, email ([email protected]), or regular mail (P.O. Box 15259, Chevy Chase, MD 20825 USA). Results. In 17 seasons from November 1994 through February 2011, the Inventory has made 1,156 site visits and collected data at 142 Antarctic Peninsula locations. Site Coverage. A cumulative, alphabetical list of sites included in the Antarctic Site Inventory database is noted below. An asterisk (“ * ”) notes sites for which the Antarctic Treaty has adopted a site-‐specific visitation guideline, all of which are reprinted in this edition of the Compendium. A dagger (“(cid:115)“) indicates sites that are appropriately visited only by zodiac cruising; where accessing breeding bird populations is dangerous, difficult, or impossible; and where monitoring is most appropriately accomplished by photodocumentation. A site denoted in bold type is off limits to visitors without a proper permit from national authorities (Antarctic Specially Protected Areas and Antarctic Specially Managed Areas), or a research station that requires a priori permission to visit. Site Name ASI Code Region Latitude Longitude page (dd) (dd) 1 Active Reef / Active Sound(cid:115) ACTI NE -‐63.38 -‐55.87 31 2 Alcock Island ALCO CW -‐64.23 -‐61.13 32 3 Amphibolite Point AMPH SO -‐60.68 -‐45.35 33 4 Andresen Island ANDR, ANDI SW -‐66.88 -‐66.67 34 5 Arctowski Station ARCT SH -‐62.25 -‐58.85 35 6 Astrolabe Island ASTR CW -‐63.28 -‐58.67 36 7 Astrup, Cape ASTU NW -‐64.71 -‐63.21 37 8 Avian Island AVIA SW -‐67.77 -‐68.90 38 9 Baily Head* BAIL SH -‐62.97 -‐60.50 39 10 Bald Head BALD NE -‐63.63 -‐57.60 42 11 Barrientos Island* AITC SH -‐62.41 -‐59.75 43 10
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