NERC Data Catalogue Service
Annual population counts of multiple species of seal, Signy Island, 1974-2024
The seal population on Signy Island has been monitored since 1974. The total number of adult seals were counted in February each year. The island was divided into 6 zones, and the number of Antarctic fur seals (Arctocephalus gazella), elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) and other seal species in each zone were counted, typically over several days. For fur seals the number of pups, white seals and entangled seals were also recorded. The first recorded count was conducted in 1974 and counts have been done annually since 1985. This work is carried out to support the conservation of higher predators at Signy.
This work was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (UK) core funding to the British Antarctic Survey.
Simple
- Alternate title
- Polar Data Centre (PDC) record GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02026
- Date (Publication)
- 2025-03-05
- Identifier
- http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/dms/metadata.php?id= / GB/NERC/BAS/PDC/02026
- Maintenance and update frequency
- unknown Unknown
- Keywords
-
- NDGO0001
- NERC OAI Harvesting
-
- NERC_DDC
- GCMD Parameter Valids
-
- EARTH SCIENCE > Biosphere > Ecological Dynamics > Population Dynamics
- BAS Free-text keywords
-
- Antarctic Fur Seal
- Arctocephalus gazella
- Elephant Seal
- Leptonychotes weddellii
- Mirounga leonina
- Seal count
- Weddell Seal
- Use limitation
- 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/).
- Access constraints
- otherRestrictions Other restrictions
- Other 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/).
- Metadata language
- EnglishEnglish
- Topic category
-
- Biota
))
- Begin date
- 1974-01-01
- End date
- 2024-03-31
- Reference system identifier
- OGP / urn:ogc:def:crs:EPSG::4326
- Distribution format
-
- OnLine resource
- GET DATA ( http )
- Hierarchy level
- dataset Dataset
Domain consistency
- Measure identification
- INSPIRE / Conformity_001
Conformance result
- Date
- Explanation
- See the referenced specification
- Pass
- No
- Statement
- Annual surveys followed consistent methodology led by experienced biologists. All personnel were familiar with identifying the three species of seal and care was always taken to examine all areas on the surveys, in order to ensure no seals were missed. Surveys took place in dry and calm weather conditions as high levels of precipitation and strong winds are known to drive large numbers of Antarctic fur seals into the sea for the duration of a storm at Signy Island. Years with no data indicate personnel had not arrived on Signy in time to carry out this activity. For additional information see Waluda et al 2010.
- File identifier
- GB_NERC_BAS_PDC_02026 XML
- Metadata language
- EnglishEnglish
- Hierarchy level
- dataset Dataset
- Date stamp
- 2025-03-05
- Metadata standard name
- NERC profile of ISO19115:2003
- Metadata standard version
- 1.0
Overviews
Spatial extent
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