Population Fluctuation of Pygoscelis Papua and Pygoscelis Antarctica, Elephant Island, South Shetlands, Antarctica

Reproductive population size of both the Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) and Chinstrap penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) has changed over the last decades in many sites in the South Shetlands Islands. We evaluated the population sizes of these species on Stinker Point, Elephant Island, South Shetlands, Antarctic, during the breeding season 2009, 2010 and 2011, and we compared with preterit studies. Over the last 40 years, the number of breeding pairs here have shown uctuations, with changes of up to 32%. It is possible that these uctuations are related to the variation in prey availability and/or climate change. However, additional census and demographic surveys in Elephant Island are clearly needed to determine whether the decline represents a long-term trend or random circumstantial uctuations.