SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATION IN ATTRIBUTES OF ADELIE PENGUIN BREEDING POPULATIONS: IMPLICATIONS FOR UNCERTAINTY IN ESTIMATION OF THE ABUNDANCE OF BREEDING PENGUINS FROM ONE-OFF COUNTS

Broad-scale surveys of penguin breeding abundance generally rely on on-off counts of adults, nests or chicks across several or many breeding sites, and the timing of these counts is often outside the control of researchers. Time series counts of Adelie penguin breeding population attributes (adults, nest and chicks) within the breeding period show considerable variability across space and time (between years). Given this variability, there will be substantial uncertainty in correcting one-off counts with date-specific correction factors to estimate the population attempting to breed at the beginning of the breeding season.