Philip N Trathan

British Antarctic Survey | BAS

The west Antarctic Peninsula is an important breeding and foraging location for marine predators that consume Antarctic Krill (Euphasia superba). It is also an important focus for the commercial fishery for Antarctic krill, managed by the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Aiming to minimise ecosystem ris...

We used 22 years of seasonally and spatially consistent monitoring data to explore marine predator–prey numerical response relationships. Specifically, we tested whether indices of offspring performance (e.g. offspring mass near the time of their independence and/or growth rate) from three Antarctic krill-dependent predators, showed positive relati...

Abstract Ecosystem dynamics at the northwest Antarctic Peninsula are driven by interactions between physical and biological processes. For example, baleen whale populations are recovering from commercial harvesting against the backdrop of rapid climate change, including reduced sea ice extent and changing ecosystem composition. Concurrently, the co...

This study was performed to aid the management of the fishery for Antarctic krill Euphausia superba. Krill are an important component of the Antarctic marine ecosystem, providing a key food source for many marine predators. Additionally, krill are the target of the largest commercial fishery in the Southern Ocean, for which annual catches have been...

The South Sandwich Islands are an isolated, oceanic, volcanically formed archipelago in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. The complex bathymetry, coupled with the location in the marginal sea-ice zone and the relationship with the ACC makes the region both productive and biodiverse. Although remote, the region is not pristine and has been...

Although mitochondrial DNA has been widely used in phylogeography, evidence has emerged that factors such as climate, food availability, and environmental pressures that produce high levels of stress can exert a strong influence on mitochondrial genomes, to the point of promoting the persistence of certain genotypes in order to compensate for the m...

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are showing strong recovery from commercial whaling in the western South Atlantic. In this region, humpback whales migrate annually from their winter breeding grounds off the coast of Brazil to their summer feeding grounds near to the Polar Front, an area that includes the waters of South Georgia and the Sou...

Following the cessation of whaling, South Atlantic populations of humpback Megaptera novaeangliae and some other baleen whale species are recovering, but there has been limited monitoring of their recovery in the Scotia Arc, a former whaling epicentre and a hotspot for Antarctic krill Euphausia superba . To inform the management of krill fisheries,...

The objective of the ecosystem approach to fisheries management is to sustain healthy marine ecosystems and the fisheries they support. One of the earliest implementations was in the Southern Ocean, where decision rules and stock reference points were developed for managing the Antarctic krill fishery, together with an ecosystem-monitoring programm...

Fishery demand for Antarctic krill is increasing, and projected to continue increasing into the future. Krill has the potential to contribute approximately 10% to all future marine landings, adding significantly to global food security. However, the fishery is effectively data-limited so is currently managed using precautionary assessments that rel...

Sampling seabirds The vastness of the worlds' oceans makes them difficult to monitor. Seabirds that forage and breed across oceans globally have been recognized as sentinels of ocean health. Sydeman et al. looked across seabird species of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres and found varying patterns. Northern Hemisphere species exhibited gr...

Surveying seabirds in polar latitudes can be challenging due to sparse human populations, lack of infrastructure and the risk of disturbance to wildlife or damage to habitats. Counting populations using un-crewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) is a promising approach to overcoming these difficulties. However, a careful validation of the approach is needed...

The Antarctic Peninsula is one of the most rapidly warming regions on earth, and it is likely that the abundance and distribution of marine predators will change as a result.Procellariiform seabirds are highly mobile predators, which target specific habitat characteristics associated with underlying distributions of prey and areas of increased prey...

Tracking individual marine predators can provide vital information to aid the identification of important activity (foraging, commuting, rafting, resting, etc.) hotspots and therefore also to delineate priority sites for conservation. However, in certain locations (e.g. Antarctica) many marine mammal or seabird colonies remain untracked due to logi...

Information is needed on how anomalous environmental conditions affect important Antarctic ecological sentinels during the winter. Using a non-invasive method (scats), the diet of non-breeding gentoo penguins Pygoscelis papua at Bird Island, South Georgia, was examined during the winter of 2009 when local environmental conditions were abnormal (e.g...

The South Orkney Islands Southern Shelf (SOISS) Marine Protected Area (MPA) was the first MPA to be designated entirely within the high seas and is managed under the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). To assist with research and monitoring of the MPA, an international expedition ('SO-AntEco') was undertak...

Dietary studies of marine predators offer an immediate signal of foodweb changes occurring at lower trophic levels, and therefore are often used to assess the ecosystem status of marine systems. Conventionally, these studies are based on morphological analysis of prey remains in stomach contents, involving invasive and de- structive techniques to c...

This paper explains the management of the Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) fishery in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean, and current knowledge about the state of the regional krill stock. In this region, krill fishing is permitted in an area of approximately 3.5 million km2 which is divided into four subareas (labelled Subareas 48.1 to 4...

Custom genotyping arrays provide a flexible and accurate means of genotyping single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a large number of individuals of essentially any organism. However, validation rates, defined as the proportion of putative SNPs that are verified to be polymorphic in a population, are often very low. A number of potential causes...

The foraging strategy of many animals is thought to be determined by their past experiences. However, few empirical studies have investigated whether this is true in diving animals. We recorded three-dimensional movements and mouth-opening events from three Antarctic fur seals during their foraging trips to examine how they adapt their behaviour ba...

This background document is provided the scientific basis, rationale and justification for the evaluation and potential establishment of a marine protected area (MPA) in the Weddell Sea planning area. It has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the CAMLR Convention and the relevant CCAMLR agreements and measures, such as the general f...

Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) are a key species in Southern Ocean ecosystems, maintaining very large numbers of predators, and fluctuations in their abundance can affect the overall structure and functioning of the ecosystems. The interannual variability in the abundance and biomass of krill was examined using a 17-year time-series of acousti...

South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands (SGSSI) are surrounded by oceans that are species-rich, have high levels of biodiversity, important endemism and which also support large aggregations of charismatic upper trophic level species. Spatial management around these islands is complex, particularly in the context of commercial fisheries that e...

Cumulative human impacts across the world's oceans are considerable. We therefore examined a single model taxonomic group, the penguins (Spheniscidae), to explore how marine species and communities might be at risk of decline or extinction in the southern hemisphere. We sought to determine the most important threats to penguins and to suggest means...

The annual moult creates the highest physiological stress during a penguin's breeding-cycle and is preceded by a period of hyperphagia at sea. Although crucial to individual survival, foraging strategies before moult have been little investigated in keystone marine consumers in the Southern Ocean. The Macaroni Penguin Eudyptes chrysolophus demonstr...

Long-lived animals sometimes skip one or more breeding seasons; however, little is known about their movements and activities during such ‘sabbatical’ periods. Here we present novel data on year-round movements and activities of two male black-tailed gulls Larus crassirostris during a sabbatical year. We compare the data with those in a year when t...

Intra-specific foraging niche partitioning can arise due to gender differences or individual specialisation in behaviour or prey selection. These may in turn be related to sexual size dimorphism or individual variation in body size through allometry. These variables are often inter-related and challenging to separate statistically. We present a cas...

Recent rapid climate change is now well documented in the Antarctic, particularly in the Antarctic Peninsula region. One of the most evident signs of climate change has been ice-shelf collapse; overall, 87% of the Peninsula's glaciers have retreated in recent decades. Further ice-shelf collapse will lead to the loss of existing marine habitats and...

Post-breeding migration in land-based marine animals is thought to offset seasonal deterioration in foraging or other important environmental conditions at the breeding site. However the inter-breeding distribution of such animals may reflect not only their optimal habitat, but more subtle influences on an individual's migration path, including suc...

Albatrosses are known to expend only a small amount of energy during flight. The low energy cost of albatross flight has been attributed to energy-efficient gliding (soaring) with sporadic flapping, although little is known about how much time and energy albatrosses expend in flapping versus gliding during cruising flight. Here, we examined the hea...

Krill consumption by natural predators represents a critical link between surveys and models of standing krill biomass and the design of a sustainable krill fishery for the Scotia Sea. Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) is a significant component of diet for penguins breeding in this region and, consequently, uncertainties regarding penguin popula...

The ocean ecosystems around the west Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia are two of the best described regional ecosystems of the Southern Ocean. They therefore provide a useful basis for developing comparative analyses of ocean ecosystems around the Antarctic. There are clear and expected differences in seasonality and species composition betwee...

The ocean ecosystems around the west Antarctic Peninsula and South Georgia are two of the best described regional ecosystems of the Southern Ocean. They therefore provide a useful basis for developing comparative analyses of ocean ecosystems around the Antarctic. There are clear and expected differences in seasonality and species composition betwee...

We analysed summer diet and fledging mass of macaroni penguins Eudyptes chrysolophus breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia, during the creche period (January and February) between 1989 and 2010. Crustaceans were the main prey accounting, for over 90% of the diet by mass. Antarctic krill Euphausia superba was the main prey, in 17 out of 22 years. A...

Antarctic krill Euphausia superba (here after ‘krill’) occur in regions undergoing rapid environmental change, particularly loss of winter sea ice. During recent years, harvesting of krill has increased, possibly enhancing stress on krill and Antarctic ecosystems. Here we review the overall impact of climate change on krill and Antarctic ecosystems...

As important marine mesopredators and sensitive indicators of Antarctic ecosystem change, penguins have been a major focus of long-term biological research in the Antarctic. However, the vast majority of such studies have been constrained by logistics and relate mostly to the temporal dynamics of individual breeding populations from which regional...

[This corrects the article on p. e33751 in vol. 7.].

Our aim was to estimate the population of emperor penguins (Aptenodytes fosteri) using a single synoptic survey. We examined the whole continental coastline of Antarctica using a combination of medium resolution and Very High Resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to identify emperor penguin colony locations. Where colonies were identified, VHR imagery...

Ecological niche theory predicts segregation mechanisms that mitigate potential competition between closely related organisms. However, little is known outside the breeding season, when central-place foraging animals may move on larger scales. This study tested for segregation mechanisms within the same 2007 inter-breeding period on three neighbori...

Several methods, each with specific advantages and disadvantages, are frequently used to obtain diet samples from seabirds. The collection of regurgitates (REG) as well as samples from the stomach water-off-load (WOL) or flushing technique are some of the most commonly used approaches. During the Austral breeding season of 2005/06 diet samples from...

Food web knowledge is a prerequisite for adequate resource management in the Antarctic ecosystem. Accurate dietary specifications for the major consumers within the Antarctic ecosystem are needed. Procellariid species are the most numerous avian species in Antarctica and account for 20% to 40% of the overall consumption by seabirds in the area. Die...

The foraging strategy of many animals is thought to be determined by their past experiences. However, few empirical studies have investigated whether this is true in diving animals. We recorded three-dimensional movements and mouth-opening events from three Antarctic fur seals during their foraging trips to examine how they adapt their behaviour ba...

Marine fisheries provide around 20% of animal protein consumed by man worldwide, but ineffective management can lead to commercial extinction of exploited stocks. Fisheries that overlap nationally controlled and high seas waters cause particular problems, as few management data are available for the high seas. The Argentinean short-finned squid, Il...

In 1948, a small colony of emperor penguins Aptenodytes forsteri was discovered breeding on Emperor Island (67° 51' 52″ S, 68° 42' 20″ W), in the Dion Islands, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula (Stonehouse 1952). When discovered, the colony comprised approximately 150 breeding pairs; these numbers were maintained until 1970, after which time th...

For land-breeding marine organisms such as seabirds, knowledge about their habitat use has mainly been gained through studies of breeding individuals that are constrained to return frequently to their breeding grounds. In this study we set out to measure whether: a) habitat selection in the non-breeding period predicts habitat selection in the bree...

Telemetry methods and remote sensing now make it possible to record the spatial usage of wide-ranging marine animals and the biophysical characteristics of their pelagic habitats. Furthermore, recent statistical advances mean such data can be used to test ecological hypotheses and estimate species' distributions. Black-browed albatrosses Thalassarc...

In the wild, seabirds dive longer than their theoretical aerobic dive limit (oxygen store divided by oxygen consumption rate). One of the potential explanations for this is that when descending in water seabirds regulate their foot or wing strokes to compensate their upward buoyancy, which decreases with the current depth to reduce oxygen consumpti...

Diving animals have to counter both drag and buoyancy when moving through the water column. The magnitude of these forces depends upon an animal's swim speed and current depth. Feet, fins or flippers create a motivating force, and different stroke strategies give a variable level of output power, providing both fast swim speeds and reduced travel t...

The South Georgia region supports a large biomass of krill that is subject to high inter-annual variability. The apparent lack of a locally self-maintaining krill population at South Georgia means that understanding the mechanism underlying these observed population characteristics is essential to successful ecosystem-based management of krill fish...

The purpose of ecosystem monitoring programs is to indicate the state of ecosystems and whether they have been impacted by activities such as fishing. This paper discusses a range of methods for inferring such impacts using monitoring data with no control sites. These methods assess either (i) the expected probability of an observed value in an uni...

Hill, S. L., Trathan, P. N., and Agnew, D. J. 2009. The risk to fishery performance associated with spatially resolved management of Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) harvesting. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 66: 2148–2154. The ecosystem approach to fisheries attempts to define objectives for target species, the wider ecosystem, and criticall...

By extracting energy from the highly dynamic wind and wave fields that typify pelagic habitats, albatrosses are able to proceed almost exclusively by gliding flight. Although energetic costs of gliding are low, enabling breeding albatrosses to forage hundreds to thousands of kilometers from their colonies, these and time costs vary with relative wi...