Promotionsvortrag Physik: „Remote sensing of colony-wide fitness parameters in Antarctic penguin species“

Ankündigung des Promotionsvortrags von: Herrn Alexander Winterl

Emperor penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) are a key indicator species for the Southern Ocean eco-system. As global change profoundly reshapes this environment, the need to monitor emperor penguin survival and wellbeing becomes increasingly critical. Yet, the extreme remoteness of their Antarctic breeding colonies makes it difficult to obtain even the most basic ecological metrics—such as foraging and breeding success or reliable population estimates.

One emerging approach to estimate emperor penguin populations involves the use of high-resolution satellite imagery. In theory, this offers a way to monitor colonies across the vast and inaccessible Antarctic landscape. In practice, however, current satellite images lack the resolution needed to distinguish individual birds. As a result, global population estimates are based on the total area covered by colonies. Yet, this proxy is inherently unreliable: emperor penguins do not build nests but move freely within the colony, dynamically reshaping its spatial footprint in response to environmental conditions. This variability in colony density makes it difficult to convert area into accurate population counts.

In this presentation, I will introduce a physically grounded phase transition model that predicts emperor penguin colony density from air temperature, wind speed, solar radiation, and relative humidity. These weather-driven changes in density, combined with the timing of key breeding stag-es—such as mate arrival, egg laying, and parental shifts during chick rearing—are then integrated into a probabilistic framework to reliably infer breeding success and colony size from satellite imagery.

(Vortrag auf Deutsch)

Dem Vortrag schließt sich eine Diskussion von 15 Minuten an. Vortrag und Diskussion sind öffentlich. Diesen Verfahrensteilen folgt ein nicht öffentliches Rigorosum von 45 Minuten.