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
