Cape Colbeck (45233)
Antarctica, Antarctica
Site overview
KBA status: confirmed
Global KBA criteria: D1a
Year of last assessment: 2015
National site name: Cape Colbeck
Central coordinates: Latitude: -77.1382, Longitude: -157.6889
System: marine, terrestrial
Area of KBA (km2): 3.51472
KBA classification: Global
Legacy site: Yes
Site details
Site description: Cape Colbeck lies at the northwestern extremity of the Edward VII Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land, at the entrance to Bartlett Inlet. The peninsula is largely ice-covered, apart from nunataks in the Alexandra and Rockefeller mountain ranges. The IBA qualifies on the basis of the Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colony that breeds on fast ice near the eastern coast of Cape Colbeck, and is entirely marine. There are no research stations nearby. The closest permanent stations are Scott Base (NZL) and McMurdo Station (USA), ~835 km to the southwest in the southern Ross Sea.
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 population of Emperor Penguins at Cape Colbeck was estimated from satellite imagery as comprising ~13 501 adults in 2005 and 12 585 adults in 2006, although high error surrounded these estimates (Barber-Meyer et al. 2007). In view of the uncertainty, these authors more conservatively predicted that the colony comprised “>5000 adults” in each of those years. Analysis of a satellite image acquired 13 Oct 2009 (Fretwell et al. 2012) indicated that approximately 11 438 Emperor Penguins were present at the colony. No other birds are known to breed in the area. Non-bird biodiversity: None known.
Delineation rationale: 1.26 km radius around point, truncated at coastline.
Threats
Summary of threats to biodiversity at KBA: None known.
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. 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