This dataset is an extract from The Greenland Seabird Colony Register (Boertmann et al. 2010; Johansen et al. 2022), maintained by the DCE/GINR Environmental Datacenter. It contains all seabird colonies in Greenland presumed to be active (non-extinct) at the time of the data extract (see attribute LastUpdated).

A colony is defined as a locality where at least 10 pairs of seabirds breed. 21 different seabird species are included in the extract: Arctic tern, Atlantic puffin, black guillemot, black-headed gull, black-legged kittiwake, common eider, common murre, glaucous gull, great black-backed gull, great cormorant, herring gull, iceland gull, ivory gull, lesser black-backed gull, little auk, northern fulmar, razorbill, Ross's gull, Sabine's gull and Thayer's gull.

For each colony, the latest population count of each species present is reported. Only counts made after 1 Jan 1992 are considered. Thus, colonies that have not been visited after 1 Jan 1992 are not included. If the number of birds in a colony during the latest visit is zero, the colony is also excluded (=extinct colony). However, for the dynamic breeders common eider and Arctic tern, we report the latest count >= 10 pairs since 1 Jan 1992, even if the latest count is zero, and for Ivory gull, we report the latest non-zero count since 1 Jan 1992, even if the latest count is zero.

The dataset has the following attributes:

ColonyID: Unique identifier of the site in the Greenland Seabird Colony Register.

ColonyName: Greenlandic name of colony.

SpeciesBreeding: List of the most recent counts of the different seabird species breeding at the site, in descending order according to population size. Each record in the list holds species name, number of breeders and unit of breeding number (i=individuals, p=pairs). In parenthesis follow date of count (yyyymmdd) and quality of count (h=high, m=medium, l=low).

ProtectionZone_2_03_02_a: Size of protection zone around colony in meters according to section 2.03.02.a in the revised Field Rules (Anon., 2000).

ProtectionZone_2_03_02_b: Size of protection zone around colony in meters according to section 2.03.02.b in the revised Field Rules (Anon., 2000).

ProtectionZone_2_03_02_c: Size of protection zone around colony in meters according to section 2.03.02.c in the revised Field Rules (Anon., 2000).

ProtectionZone_2_03_02_d: Size of protection zone around colony in meters according to section 2.03.02.d in the revised Field Rules (Anon., 2000).

ReferenceMap: Name of the map that the delineation and position of the colony is referenced to (either “GTK 1:250.000 vektor” or “Satellitfoto Grønland Beta 0.2/1.6/10 m”).

LastUpdated: Date and time data extract from the Greenland Seabird Colony Register.

Source: Institutions responsible for the colony data (DCE and GINR).

For further details on the dataset, see Johansen et al. 2022.

The production of the dataset was undertaken by DCE – Danish Centre for Environment and Energy, Aarhus University, and Greenland Institute of Natural Resources (GINR). The work was commissioned and financed by The Environment Agency for the Mineral Resources Activities (EAMRA), Greenland Government.

References:

Anon., 2000. Rules for field work and reporting regarding mineral resources (excluding hydrocarbons) in Greenland. Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, Government of Greenland. https://govmin.gl/wp-con-tent/uploads/2019/09/Rules_for_Fieldwork_and_Reporting_regarding_Mineral_Resources.pdf

Boertmann, D., Mosbech, A., Bjerrum, M., Labansen, A.L. & Merkel, F.R. 2010. The Greenland seabird colony register. World Seabird Conference, Victoria, Canada, 06/09/2010 - 11/09/2010. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/273950209_Greenland_Seabird_Colony_Register_2010

Johansen, K.L., Boertmann, D., Merkel, F.R., Mosbech, A. 2022. Havfugle i NatureMap. Tekniske noter til dataprojekt om opdatering af den geografiske information i havfuglekolonidatabasen og udtræk til brug for reviderede beskyttelseszoner i NatureMap. Aarhus Universitet, DCE – Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi. Fagligt notat nr. 45, 2022. https://dce.au.dk/fileadmin/dce.au.dk/Udgivelser/Notater_2022/N2022_45.pdf