Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics (MAPPPD): Count data

OBIS and Antarctic OBIS

MAPPPD ((Mapping Application for Penguin Populations and Projected Dynamics) is a project funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in partnership with Oceanites and the Lab of Dr. Heather Lynch at Stony Brook University.

Penguins are some of the most charismatic animals in the world and have captured the imaginations of news-makers, scientists, film producers and the general public. Beyond their general intrinsic value, they are considered important ecosystem indicators. That is to say, monitoring these beautiful species can tell us a lot about the general health of the Antarctic. This is because penguins are top predators, and changes (natural or anthropogenic) which influence the oceanography of the region or prey abundance, will ultimately be detected through changes in distribution or population size.

The Antarctic is currently governed by nations which make up the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS). Management strategies designed by the ATS rely on accurate and citable penguin population data in order to mitigate any anthropogenic impacts in the region. However, data on penguin populations are limited primarily due to the fact that most monitored colonies are nearby permanent research stations. This means that any remote populations are essentially ignored during planning processes. Due to advances in remote sensing, modeling and aerial imagery, it is now possible to obtain population estimates for these hard-to-reach sites.

MAPPPD aims to deliver population data from four species of penguin to any interested party with the goal of helping support conservation decisions in the Antarctic. We use a combination of highly advanced remote sensing technologies, aerial imagery and field counts to estimate penguin abundance across the entire continent.

All of the data in MAPPPD are open access to the general public, and the process is well documented in our white paper report. (http://www.penguinmap.com)

N/A

This dataset was downloaded from OBIS (https://obis.org/). The records for only marine mammals, seabirds, sea turtles and rays and sharks were extracted. Records with no longitude/latitude or no date (eventDate) were excluded.
OBIS dataset page:
https://obis.org/dataset/b4be83a5-101d-4a82-80dd-b8a39c8026f2
Data Provider's dataset page:
https://ipt.biodiversity.aq/resource?r=mapppd_count_data

Overview

This section explains attributes included in the original dataset. OBIS-SEAMAP restricts the attributes available to the public to date/time, lat/lon and species names/counts only. Should you need other attributes described here, you are encouraged to contact the data provider.

Attributes described below represent those in the original dataset provided by the provider.
All attributes are included in the downloadable file (CSV or ESRI File Geodatabase) for "Complete Set of Dataset".

Attributes in dataset

Attribute (table column)	Description
oid	Internal ID
id	Record ID
dataset_id	Dataset ID
scientificname	Scientific name
vernacularname	Vernacular name
aphiaid	Aphia ID
taxonrank	taxononic rank
individualcount	Group size / individual count
eventdate	Event date (precision varies)
eventtime	Event time
decimallatitude	Latitude in decimal degrees
decimallongitude	Longitude in decimal degrees
coordinateprecision	Coordinate precision
catalognumber	Catalog number
collectioncode	Collection code
occurrencestatus	Occurrence status
basisofrecord	Basis of record (HumanObservation / MachineObservation)
modified	Date/time the record was modified
node_id	Node ID
occurrenceid	Occurrence ID
occurrenceremarks	Occurrence remarks
eventid	Event ID
institutioncode	Institution code
lifestage	Life stage
sex	Gender of the animal if known
species	Species by provider
datasetid	Dataset ID by provider
country	Country
locality	Location of ocean
waterbody	Details of ocean
dropped	Flag indicating the record was dropped (always false)
absence	Flag indicating the record represents the absence of the species (always false)
marine	Flag indicating the record is for marine life (always true)