Abstract:
The breeding success (calculated from nest and chick counts) of Gentoo penguins is monitored annually at Bird Island, South Georgia. The number of incubating nests and chicks reaching fledging stage are counted in several Gentoo penguin colonies. Data exist from 1981 onwards.
This dataset is an updated version of Trathan, P., Waluda, C., & Ratcliffe, N. (2021). Breeding success of Gentoo penguins at Bird Island, South Georgia, from 1982 to 2020 - VERSION 1.0 (Version 1.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/c8d5a7a4-e19b-497f-b7ae-56f9a2b15a56. The update consists of five additional years of data. No changes have been made to the data included in the previous dataset.
This work was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (UK) core funding to the British Antarctic Survey.
Keywords:
Bird Island, Gentoo penguin, Pygoscelis papua, breeding success, chick count, nest count
Ratcliffe, N., Trathan, P., Waluda, C., & Bennison, A. (2026). Breeding success of Gentoo penguins at Bird Island, South Georgia, from 1981 to 2025 - VERSION 2.0 (Version 2.0) [Data set]. NERC EDS UK Polar Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/8fedb5a0-b98c-4457-9d86-aae9c6d3ed8e
| Access Constraints: | None. |
|---|---|
| Use Constraints: | This data is governed by the NERC data policy http://www.nerc.ac.uk/research/sites/data/policy/ and supplied under Open Government Licence v.3 http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ |
| Creation Date: | 2026-01-29 |
|---|---|
| Dataset Progress: | Complete |
| Dataset Language: | English |
| ISO Topic Categories: |
|
| Parameters: |
|
| Personnel: | |
| Name | UK Polar Data Centre |
| Role(s) | Metadata Author |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dr Norman Ratcliffe |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dr Philip N Trathan |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dr Claire M Waluda |
| Role(s) | Investigator |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Name | Dr Ashley Bennison |
| Role(s) | Investigator, Technical Contact |
| Organisation | British Antarctic Survey |
| Parent Dataset: | N/A |
| Reference: | P N Trathan, S Fielding, P R Hollyman, E J Murphy, V Warwick-Evans, M A Collins, Enhancing the ecosystem approach for the fishery for Antarctic krill within the complex, variable, and changing ecosystem at South Georgia, ICES Journal of Marine Science, Volume 78, Issue 6, September 2021, Pages 2065-2081, https://doi.org/10.1093/icesjms/fsab092 | |
|---|---|---|
| Lineage/Methodology: | Breeding counts are made 7 days after 75% of monitored marked nests in Square Pond and Johnson colonies have laid at least one egg. All occupied nests i.e. those with eggs are counted at Johnson and Square Pond on the appropriate day. All nests are checked and all those containing eggs tallied at each colony. Counts are done at Natural Arch and Mountain Cwm within one day of the Johnson Counts. Separate counts are recorded for the Upper and Lower colonies at Natural Arch and Mountain Cwm. Counts are done 3 times until the numbers are similar (within around 5%), or if two people are counting, then until the two counts are within around 5%. Chicks are counted at all the above colonies 98 days after peak laying (when 75% of monitored nests have laid eggs). Separate counts are made for the Upper and Lower colonies at Natural Arch and Mountain Cwm. Counts are made on the appropriate dates according to the dates used for the breeding counts. Counts at Natural Arch and Mountain Cwm are made within one day of the Johnson counts as for the breeding counts. Counts are done 3 times until numbers are similar (within around 5%). This dataset has been updated to add five additional years of counts. The metadata has been updated accordingly. All data were collected under permit from the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. All sampling procedures used were regulated by the British Antarctic Survey Ethical Review Committee in collaboration with Cambridge University and the UK Home Office. |
|
| Temporal Coverage: | |
|---|---|
| Start Date | 1981-11-12 |
| End Date | 2025-10-25 |
| Spatial Coverage: | |
| Latitude | |
| Southernmost | -54.0115 |
| Northernmost | -54.0115 |
| Longitude | |
| Westernmost | -38.05 |
| Easternmost | -38.05 |
| Altitude | |
| Min Altitude | N/A |
| Max Altitude | N/A |
| Depth | |
| Min Depth | N/A |
| Max Depth | N/A |
| Location: | |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Lower Mountain Cwm, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Upper Mountain Cwm, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Lower Natural Arch, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Upper Natural Arch, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Johnson Beach, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Square Pond, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Landing Beach, Bird Island |
| Location | South Georgia Island |
| Detailed Location | Mountain Cwm, Bird Island |
| Data Storage: | 1x csv file |
|---|