Remotely-operating camera network expands Antarctic seabird observations of key breeding parameters for ecosystem monitoring and management

Antarctic seabirds are important indicators of impacts and change in Southern Ocean ecosystems, but their isolated and remote breeding populations are challenging and expensive to assess and monitor using traditional methods. Taking account of dependent species such as seabirds and seals is a critical aspect of the ecosystem-based management approach for the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Our aim was to assess remotely-operating cameras as a tool for broad-scale seabird monitoring when time, budget, logistics or concerns of human impacts constrain direct monitoring programmes. Here we demonstrate how remotely-operating time-lapse cameras can be used for cost-effective, large-scale monitoring in the harsh Antarctic environment. We show that robustly designed cameras can operate over long periods and provide reliable data on key breeding parameters such as phenology and breeding success using the Adélie penguin as a case study. By establishing a network of cameras across east Antarctica, we are now able to match the scale of monitoring with the large spatial scales over which fisheries and climate change are expected to impact. This is a quantum advance for seabird monitoring that can directly complement CCAMLR's ecosystem monitoring programme to achieve conservation objectives under the Convention. The remote camera network concept is well suited for monitoring a wide range of colonial breeding species including seabirds, water birds and marine mammals.