Cape Wadworth, Coulman Island (45219)
Antarctica, Antarctica
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: D1a
Year of last assessment: 2015
National site name: Cape Wadworth, Coulman Island
Central coordinates: Latitude: -73.3508, Longitude: 169.6323
System: marine, terrestrial
Area of KBA (km2): 4.14641
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Coulman Island lies along the Borchgrevink Coast of northern Victoria Land, ~18 km east of the Borchgrevink Glacier Tongue. The island is an elongated basaltic dome covered by a permanent ice cap. Cape Wadworth is the northern-most point of Coulman Island. The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colony that breeds on sea ice ~5 km southwest of Cape Wadworth. Breeding extends ~2 km offshore from the northwestern coast of Coulman Island, and the IBA is entirely marine. The nearest permanent stations are Mario Zucchelli (ITA) and Jang Bogo (KOR) ~220 km to the southwest in Terra Nova Bay.
Rationale for qualifying as KBA: This site qualifies as a Key Biodiversity Area of international significance that meets the thresholds for at least one criterion described in the Global Standard for the Identification of KBAs.
Additional biodiversity: The Coulman Island Emperor Penguin colony is currently the largest known, although the emperor colony at Cape Washington IBA has in some years been comparable, or sometimes of larger, in size. The colony breeds on sea ice up to approximately 1 km from the northwestern Coulman Island coast. The population ranged between ~19 000 and ~35 000 pairs from 1983-2005 (Barber-Meyer et al. 2007, 2008). Analysis of a satellite image acquired 16 Oct 2009 (Fretwell et al. 2012) indicated that 25 298 Emperor Penguins were present at the colony, although image quality was rated Fair. Information on other bird species at the site is not available. Non-bird biodiversity: None known
Delineation rationale: 1.26 km radius around point, truncated at coastline.
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: See IBA Cape Main, Coulman Island for information about conservation issues at Coulman Island.
Additional information
References: Barber-Meyer, S.M., Kooyman, G.L. & Ponganis, P.J. 2007. Estimating the relative abundance of Emperor Penguins at inaccessible colonies using satellite imagery. Polar Biology 30: 1565-1570. Barber-Meyer, S.M., Kooyman, G.L. & Ponganis, P.J. 2008. Trends in western Ross Sea Emperor Penguin chick abundances and their relationships to climate. Antarctic Science 20(1): 3-11. doi:10.1017/S0954102007000673 Fretwell, P.T., LaRue, M.A., Morin P., Kooyman, G.L., Wienecke, B., Ratcliffe, N., Fox, A.J., Fleming, A.H., Porter, C. & Trathan, P.N. 2012. An Emperor Penguin population estimate: the first global, synoptic survey of a species from space. PLoS ONE 7(4): e33751. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033751 Kooyman, G.L. & Ponganis, P.J. 2014. Chick production at the largest Emperor Penguin colony decreases by 50% from 2008-10. Antarctic Science 26: 33-37.