Volunteers sought for armchair penguin count

By Ellen Coulter

Updated 17 Sept 2014

Photo: More than 40 cameras spread out across Antarctica are transmitting images to a website. (Supplied: Australian Antarctic Division)

Map: Antarctica

 

A call has gone out for people to help count penguins for a new study, but there is no requirement to travel to a remote icy continent.

The Australian Antarctic Division (AAD), based in Hobart, is calling on citizen scientists to scour thousands of online photographs from the comfort of their armchairs.

Researchers at Oxford University in the UK have scanned 200,000 photographs, many taken by AAD staff, as part of the project.

Volunteers will identify adults, chicks and eggs in the photos, eventually helping researchers develop an algorithm so computers can automatically count individual penguins in an image.

The information will help scientists in understanding their behaviour, breeding success and the impact of predators.

It may also help in detecting how environmental changes and human activity impact penguin numbers, and spot the early warning signs of any problem that could lead to a decline.

There are adorable chicks in some of the photos and you can never get too tired of looking at penguins.

Jenni Klaus, penguin counter

AAD's Colin Southwell said it could also provide information about the potential impact of fisheries.
"There's over 40 cameras out across East Antarctica now; they're spread across three large regions from Mawson's station all the way across to Commonwealth Bay," he said.

"What it's about, is trying to use the interest of a large number of people out there through online communications to contribute to scientific research.

"So we're asking non-scientists through their interest to contribute to the work."

Volunteer counter Jenni Klaus said: "I saw it on Twitter and I've always been interested in science but I haven't done a science degree or anything.

"There are adorable chicks in some of the photos and you can never get too tired of looking at penguins."

"Most people are interested in Antarctica. Most people are interested in penguins, and it's fun," Dr Southwell said.

The researchers hope to eventually have volunteers counting other seabirds in the Antarctic and Arctic.

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