RNA was extracted from pooled gonad tissues and tails of five sexually mature males and females, respectively, originating from the krill aquarium at the AAD in Tasmania, Australia. For RNA extractions, RNeasy mini kits (QIAGEN) were used and total RNA (8 micrograms each) was sent to Geneworks, South Australia (www.geneworks.com.au), for Illumina TruSeq 75 bp paired-end sequencing in two technical replica. Reads Yield Total Yield Krill_Male_sex_a_read1_sequence.txt 8,120,993 609,074,475 bases 1,218,148,950 bases Krill_Male_sex_a_read2_sequence.txt 8,120,993 609,074,475 bases Krill_Male_sex_b_read1_sequence.txt 10,465,586 784,918,950 bases 1,569,837,900 bases Krill_Male_sex_b_read2_sequence.txt 10,465,586 784,918,950 bases Krill_Male_tissue_a_read1_sequence.txt 7,867,804 590,085,300 bases 1,180,170,600 bases Krill_Male_tissue_a_read2_sequence.txt 7,867,804 590,085,300 bases Krill_Male_tissue_b_read1_sequence.txt 10,956,251 821,718,825 bases 1,793,118,450 bases Krill_Male_tissue_b_read2_sequence.txt 10,956,251 821,718,825 bases Krill_Female_sex_read1a_sequence.txt 29,447,654 2,208,574,050 bases 4,417,148,100 bases Krill_Female_sex_read2a_sequence.txt 29,447,654 2,208,574,050 bases Krill_Female_sex_read1b_sequence.txt 18,223,515 1,366,763,625 bases 2,733,527,250 bases Krill_Female_sex_read2b_sequence.txt 18,223,515 1,366,763,625 bases The insert size for these libraries is approx 160bp.

We assembled tracking data from seabirds (n = 12 species) and marine mammals (n = 5 species), collected between 1991 and 2016, from across the Antarctic predator research community. See https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018_Standardised and https://data.aad.gov.au/metadata/records/SCAR_EGBAMM_RAATD_2018_Filtered for the tracking data. Habitat selectivity modelling was applied to these tracking data in order to identify the environmental characteristics important to each species, and to produce circum-Antarctic predictions of important geographic space for each individual species. The individual species maps were then combined to identify regions important to our full suite of species. This approach enabled us to account for incomplete tracking coverage (i.e., colonies from which no animals have been tracked) and to produce an integrated and spatially explicit assessment of areas of ecological importance across the Southern Ocean. The data attached to this metadata record include the single-species maps for Adelie, emperor, king, macaroni, and royal penguins; Antarctic and white-chinned petrels; black-browed, grey-headed, light-mantled, sooty, and wandering albatross; humpback whales; Antarctic fur seal, southern elephant seals, and crabeater and Weddell seals. The data also include the integrated maps that incorporate all species (weighted by colony size, and unweighted). See the paper and its supplementary information for full details on the modelling process and discussion of the model outputs.

The dataset contains geographic location estimates of Adelie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) tracked via Argos satellite telemetry in the Southern Ocean for the U.S. Antarctic Marine Living Resources project from 1996-10-29 to 2013-02-19. Birds were instrumented with back-mounted Argos satellite transmitters at the Copacabana Colony (62.21S, 58.42W) on King George Island during the austral summer breeding seasons (October - February) from 1996 to 2013. Typical deployments during the breeding season lasted 5 to 8 days, while some winter deployments lasted several months. The data set identifies the sex of the bird tracked (male, female, or unknown) and the age of the bird (adult). The data also identify the breeding stage of the bird during the summer tracking period (incubation, brood/guard, or creche) or is noted as 'winter' if tracked outside the summer breeding season. The data include the date (DD/MM/YYYY) and time (GMT) of the location estimate. Finally, a categorical estimate of uncertainty in the location estimate is provided by Argos quality codes (3,2,1,0,A,B).

Estimates of daily activity and consequent demand for food during winter are scarce for many polar seabirds, yet essential for assessing constraints on foraging effort, demand for food, and potential competition with local fisheries. We affixed archival temperature tags to gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) from two colonies in the South Shetland Islands to measure the frequency, timing, and duration of foraging trips and to estimate minimum food requirements during winter. Foraging trip frequencies ranged from 0.85 to 1.0 trips day-1 and were positively correlated with day length. Early winter foraging trips more closely matched day length than late winter foraging trips. The data suggest that individuals maximize foraging time during the early winter period, likely to recover body mass following the breeding season and molt. The more attenuated response of foraging trip durations to increasing day length in late winter may be related to differences in local resource availability or individual behaviors prior to the upcoming breeding season. Minimum food requirements also exhibited a seasonal cycle with a mid-winter minimum. On average, minimum food requirements were estimated at 0.70 ± 0.12 kg day-1. Extrapolated to the regional population of gentoo penguins, winter food requirements by gentoo penguins were equivalent to roughly 33% of annual krill catches by commercial fisheries in the South Shetland Island region over the past decade. Current expansion of the gentoo population and the krill fishery in the southern Scotia Sea warrants continued monitoring of gentoo penguins during winter.

The download file contains files (Broke 1, Broke 2 and Broke 3) in three formats resulting from the scanning of three plots of BROKE transects with annotations about krill aggregation. The tiff is the primary file from the scanning. The jpeg and pdf were created from the tiff for quick viewing. The numbered points on the plots are trawl locations. The annotations include information about krill aggregation from the echosounder and also information from the trawls. The data contributed to the two papers listed in the references section. BROKE was a marine science cruise conducted by the Aurora Australis during the 1995-1996 season (voyage 4).

This dataset contains results from the Antarctic Division BIOMASS Experiment II (ADBEX II) cruise of the Nella Dan. This is the third cruise of six, and follows the ADBEX I cruise made during late 1982. ADBEX II was to have been an international experiment, Second International BIOMASS Experiment I (SIBEX I), in cooperation with Japan, South Africa and France, however due to the delay of a supply program Australia's participation was cancelled. ADBEX II is the result of a reduced sampling program carried out during the resupply of Davis and Mawson stations. Surveys of krill and other zooplankton were taken off Antarctica in the Australian sector (Mawson to Davis region) and Prydz Bay in January 1984. Species identity and abundance data were obtained. The major species investigated were Euphausia superba, Euphausia frigidia, Euphausia crystallorophias and Thysanoessa marcuria. Other pteropods and cephalopods were also studied. Results from hydroacoustic surveys of krill biomass were also obtained, as well as CTD and chlorophyll data. Summary results are listed in the documentation.

This data were collected on the sixth Nella Dan voyage of a long term field survey project being conducted by the Australian Antarctic Division, to collect distribution, abundance and population structure data for the krill Euphausia superba in the Prydz Bay region, Antarctica. This voyage, the Australian Antarctic Marine Biological Ecosystem Research 1986/1987 (AAMBER 86/87) cruise, operated between February and April 1987. During March, a survey of the krill population and zooplankton community was conducted, to determine the late summer distribution and abundance of krill, especially the larvae. This was done as a follow up to SIBEX II in mid-summer (Janurary) 1985. The major species investigated were Euphausia superba, Euphausia frigidia, Euphausia crystallorophias and Thysanoessa marcuria. Phytoplankton pigment analysis was also conducted at each CTD station site.