• Ocean and Polar Research
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.87-101
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• 2004

This paper delineated the ecology including movement (departure from the rookery and returning to the rookery), egg-laying, and hatch of the penguins occurred in the cold years and a less cold year in the vicinity of King Sejong Station, King George Island off the Antarctic Peninsula. The years of 1988, 1991, 1992, and 1995 were selected as cold years and the year of 2001 was selected as a less cold year based on the mean annual temperature of the years. Gentoo Penguin (Pygoscelis papua) left their rookery in May, meanwhile some remained around the station. They returned in middle-September in the less cold .year, and returned in late-September to early-October in the cold years. Chinstrap Penguin (Pygoscelis antarctica) left their rookery in early-April in the cold years as well as in the less cold year without exception. They returned to the rookery in late-October to early-November in cold years, meanwhile in early-October in the less cold year. This difference in the returning of this bird seems to be related with the exposed sea water, i.e., sea ice condition to feed in the sea. The global warming will lead to the appearance of birds which breed in the Sub-Antarctic. For example, one pair of King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) was observed in the Maxwell Bay in austral summer. And a pair of snide-like bird was recently observed for the first time in November 2001 at the penguin rookery located in the Barton Peninsula, King George Island. And it will also lead to the disappearance of an Emperor Penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) which appeared in the full winter when Maxwell Bay and Marian Cove were frozen. It seems that the behaviour of the penguins observed around the station shows the complex effects of the ecology of the birds in combination with the natural environments, which include feeding strategy and areas, animal Instincts, exposed terrain related to weather conditions, and globa1 warming. It is necessary to take further observation and carry out systematic researches on the birds including penguins around the station which show the ecology of the birds as well as the environmental changes.