This document describes the SCAR Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data (RAATD) project. The project involves analyzing over 4060 animal tracking records from 17 Antarctic species, totaling nearly 3 million location points. The goal is to identify Areas of Ecological Significance in the Southern Ocean that are important for multiple predator species and have high biodiversity of lower trophic levels. Habitat utilization models are being developed for each species to predict habitat use globally based on environmental conditions. Preliminary results from a habitat model for Southern elephant seals are shown, identifying regions of high and low predicted habitat suitability. The project aims to improve understanding of Antarctic ecosystem processes and inform spatial management decisions.

1. The SCAR Retrospective Analysis of Antarctic
Tracking Data.
Mark A. Hindell, Yan Ropert-Coudert, Anton P. Van de Putte, Horst
Bornemann, Jean-Benoît Charrassin, Bruno Danis, Luis A. Hückstädt,
Ian D. Jonsen, Mary-Anne Lea, Ryan R. Reisinger, Leigh G. Torres,
Philip N. Trathan Simon Wotherspoon, Ben Raymond and Yan Ropert-
Coudert
AND the RAATD data contributors

2. A truly collaborative project: 79 data contributors
from 46 institutions
Yan Ropert-Coudert1,*, Anton P. Van de Putte2,3,*, Horst Bornemann4, Jean-Benoît Charrassin5, Bruno Danis6, Luis A. Hückstädt7, Ian D. Jonsen8, Mary-Anne Lea9,10, Ryan R. Reisinger1,11,12, David Thompson13, Leigh G. Torres14, Philip N. Trathan15,
Simon Wotherspoon9, David G. Ainley16, Rachael Alderman17, Virginia Andrews-Goff18,9, Ben Arthur9, Grant Ballard19, John Bengtson20, Marthán N. Bester21, Lars Boehme22, Charles-André Bost1, Peter Boveng20, Jaimie Cleeland9, Rochelle
Constantine23, Daniel P. Costa7, Robert J. M. Crawford24, Luciano Dalla Rosa25, P.J. Nico de Bruyn21, Karine Delord1, Sébastien Descamps26, Mike Double18, Katie Dugger27, Louise Emmerson18, Mike Fedak22, Ari Friedlander28, Nick Gales18, Mike
Goebel29, Kimberly T. Goetz13, Christophe Guinet1, Simon D. Goldsworthy30, Rob Harcourt8, Jefferson Hinke31, Kerstin Jerosch4, Akiko Kato1, Knowles R. Kerry18, Roger Kirkwood18, Gerald L. Kooyman32, Kit M. Kovacs33, Kieran Lawton18, Andy
Lowther33, Christian Lydersen33, Phil O’B. Lyver34, Azwianewi B. Makhado24, Maria E. I. Márquez35, Birgitte McDonald36, Clive McMahon37,9, Monica Muelbert38, Dominik Nachtsheim4,39, Keith Nicholls15, Erling S.Nordøy40, Silvia Olmastroni41,42,
Richard A. Phillips15, Pierre Pistorius11, Joachim Plötz4, Klemens Pütz43, Norman Ratcliffe15, Peter G. Ryan44, Mercedes Santos35, Arnoldus Schytte Blix40, Colin Southwell18, Iain Staniland15, Akinori Takahashi45, Arnaud Tarroux46, Wayne
Trivelpiece31, Henri Weimerskirch1, Barbara Wienecke18, Ben Raymond18,9,10,**, Mark A. Hindell9,10,**
1. Centre d’Etudes Biologiques de Chizé, Station d’Écologie de Chizé-Université de La Rochelle, CNRS UMR7372, 79360 Villiers-en-Bois, France.
2. BEDIC, OD Nature, Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Vautierstraat 29, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium.
3. Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Leuven, Ch. Deberiotstraat 32, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.
4. Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Am Handelshafen 12, 27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.
5. Sorbonne Universités, UPMC University, Paris 06, UMR 7159 CNRS-IRD-MNHN, LOCEAN-IPSL, 75005 Paris, France.
6. Université Libre de Bruxelles, Marine Biology Lab, Campus du Solbosch - CP160/15 50 avenue F.D. Roosevelt, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgium.
7. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Long Marine Lab, 115 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz, CA 95060, USA.
8. Department of Biological Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
9. Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Tasmania, 20 Castray Esplanade, Battery Point, TAS 7004, Australia.
10. Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
11. DST-NRF Centre of Excellence at the Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, Nelson Mandela University, PO Box 77000, Port Elizabeth, 6031 South Africa.
12. CESAB-FRB, Bâtiment Henri Poincaré, Domain du Petit Arbois, Ave Louis Philibert, 13100 Aix-en-Provence, France
13. NIWA Wellington, 301 Evans Bay Parade, Hataitai, Wellington 6021 Private Bag 14901, Wellington, New Zealand.
14. Hatfield Marine Science Center, 2030 SE Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR 97365, USA.
15. British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OET, United Kingdom.
16. H.T. Harvey & Associates, 983 University Avenue, Bldg D, Los Gatos CA 95032, USA.
17. Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment, Hobart, TAS 7000, Australia.
18. Australian Antarctic Division, Department of the Environment, 203 Channel Hwy, Kingston, TAS 7050, Australia.
19. Point Blue Conservation Science, 3820 Cypress Drive, Suite 11, Petaluma, CA 94954 USA.
20. Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center/NOAA, 7600 Sand Point Way N.E., F/AKC3, Seattle, WA 98115-6349, USA.
21. Mammal Research Institute, Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Private Bag X20, Hatfield 0028, South Africa.
22. Scottish Oceans Institute, East Sands, St Andrews, Fife, United Kingdom.
23. School of Biological Sciences University of Auckland Private Bag 92019 Auckland, New Zealand.
24. Oceans and Coasts, Department of Environmental Affairs, Private Bag X2, Rogge Bay 8012 South Africa.
25. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Instituto de Oceanografia, Laboratório de Ecologia e Conservação da Megafauna Marinha, Rio Grande, CEP 96201-900, Brazil.
26. Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Postbox 6606 Langnes, 9296 Tromsø, Norway.
27. Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Oregon State University, 104 Nash Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97331, USA.
28. Marine Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
29. NOAA Fisheries, 8901 La Jolla Shores Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037-1508, USA.
30. South Australian Research and Development Institute, 2 Hamra Avenue, West Beach SA 5024, Australia.
31. Antarctic Ecosystem Research Division, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries, Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, La Jolla, California, USA.
32. Center for Marine Biology & Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
33. Norwegian Polar Institute, Framsenteret, 9296 Tromsø, Norway.
34. Landcare Research, Lincoln, P.O. Box 69040, Lincoln 7640, New Zealand.
35. Instituto Antártico Argentino, 25 de Mayo 1143, San Martín, Provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
36. Moss Landing Marine Laboratories 8272 Moss Landing Rd. Moss Landing, CA 95039, USA.
37. Sydney Institute of Marine Science, 19 Chowder Bay Road, Mosman, NSW 2088, Australia.
38. Instituto de Oceanografia – IO – Campus Carreiros, Av. Itália 08, s/nº, Rio Grande – RS – Brazil.
39. Institute for Terrestrial and Aquatic Wildlife Research, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Werftstraße 6, 25761 Büsum, Germany.
40. UiT The Arctic University of Norway, PO Box 6050 Langnes, 9037 Tromsø, Norway.
41. Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, della Terra e dell’Ambiente, Università degli Studi di Siena, Siena, Italy.
42. Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide, Siena, Italy.
43. Antarctic Research Trust, Am Oste-Hamme-Kanal 10, D-27432 Bremervörde, Germany.
44. Percy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST-NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa.
45. National Institute of Polar Research, 10-3, Midori-cho, Tachikawa, Tokyo 190-8518, Japan.
46. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Fram Centre, 9296 Tromsø, Norway.
* These authors contributed equally.
** These authors contributed equally to the supervision of the project.

3. RAATD is a multi-species assessment of Antarctic top predators to identify Areas of
Ecological Significance - regions that are important range of predators and which
have high diversity and abundance of lower trophic levels.
The project will provide:
(i) a greater understanding of fundamental ecosystem processes in the Southern
Ocean
(ii) facilitate future projections of predator distributions under varying climate
regimes and
(iii) provide input into spatial management planning decisions for management
authorities such as CCAMLR.
.
The Retrospective analysis of Antarctic Tracking Data
(RAATD)

4. The data: 4060 tracks, from
2,965,926 location fixes (before filtering)
Taxa
Common name
(abbreviation)
N ind. N fixes
Aves Adélie penguin 822 273,390
Emperor penguin 139 82,777
King penguin 110 98,206
Macaroni penguin 511 180,015
Royal penguin 20 2,586
Antarctic petrel 126 139,884
White-chinned petrel 50 4,948
Wandering albatross 276 189,767
Black-browed albatross 362 144,775
Grey-headed albatross 112 165,543
Sooty albatross 35 15,255
Light-mantled albatross 42 22,686
Mammalia Antarctic fur seal 555 258,884
Crabeater seal 105 87,182
Southern elephant seal 571 1,013,321
Weddell seal 182 236,423
Humpback whale 56 52,112
Total 4060 2,965,926
• 55.5% of all locations from marine
mammals, with elephant seals locations
accounting for 33.3% of the total.
• In the seabirds 20% of the locations are
shared between Adelie penguins and
wandering albatrosses.
• The final database will be made publically
available via the SCAR Antarctic Biodiversity
database (biodiversity.aq)
All 17 Species

5. The blue box indicates the
filtering and validation workflow
steps;
• green boxes indicate data files
publically available.
• The DwC-A box indicates
Darwin Core packages suitable
for use by global biodiversity
networks such as the Global
Biodiversity Information
Facility (GBIF) and Ocean
Biogeographic Information
System (OBIS).
• Filtering code also publicly
available
The data: Workflow

6. The approach is to:
(i) develop a HUM for each
species,
(ii) use that HUM to make global
predictions of habitat use based
on colony locations (where
appropriate)
(iii) combine these to indicate
Areas of Ecological Significance.
THE APPROACH: Habitat Utilisation Models (HUM)
To make the HUMs:
(i) All tracks are filtered
(ii) “pseudo-tracks” are generated to assess regions that are potentially available –
but not used by that animal.
(iii) The environmental conditions in the areas that were used are compared to
those potentially available using a statistical model

7. Results from the Southern Elephant seal HUM
(boosted regression tree)

8. Results from the Southern Elephant seal HUM
(boosted regression tree)
All >15%

9. Results from the Southern Elephant seal HUM
(boosted regression tree)
All >15%
All < 8%

10. Southern Elephant Seal
SuitabilityIndex
SES Global model prediction

11. Southern Elephant Seal
SuitabilityIndex
SES Global model prediction

12. SuitabilityIndex
SuitabiltyIndex
SuitabilityIndex
3 sub-Antarctic Breeding species:
Predictions for each colony

13. SuitabilityIndex
SuitabiltyIndex
SuitabilityIndex
3 sub-Antarctic Breeding species:
Predictions for each colony

14. Sub-Antarctic:
Areas of Ecological Significance
Mean percentile of habitat
suitability index

15. Where to from here?
• Finish HUMs for the remaining 14 species…
• Account for season (summer + winter) and breeding stage
• Test model performance:
• Spatial cross validation
• Sensitivity analysis
• Relate to climate change data and other human activities
• Go Global! Ocean Tracking Synthesis as a IBS Decade
of Bio-logging project?

16. Thank you!