Artwork by @allison_horst
The goal of this project is to develop a machine learning classifier model able to classify Palmer penguins species with over 90% of accuracy using measurements of their flippers and bills.
Palmer Station is a United States research station in Antarctica located on Anvers Island, the only US station located north of the Antarctic Circle. Initial construction of the station finished in 1968. The station, like the other U.S. Antarctic stations, is operated by the United States Antarctic Program (USAP) of the National Science Foundation.
The three species subject of this project belong to the Pygoscelis genus. The genus Pygoscelis ("rump-legged") contains three living species of penguins collectively known as "brush-tailed penguins". A study has estimated that there are about 3.79 million pairs of Adélie, 387,000 pairs of gentoo, and 8 million pairs of chinstrap penguins in their particular areas, making up 90% of Antarctic avian biomass (Black, C. E. 2016).
- Black, Caitlin E. (2016-03-01). A comprehensive review of the phenology of Pygoscelis penguins. Polar Biology. 39 (3): 405–432.
These data were collected from 2007 - 2009 by Dr. Kristen Gorman with the Palmer Station Long Term Ecological Research Program, part of the US Long Term Ecological Research Network. The data were imported directly from the Environmental Data Initiative (EDI) Data Portal, and are available for use by CC0 license (“No Rights Reserved”) in accordance with the Palmer Station Data Policy.
Data originally published in:
- Gorman KB, Williams TD, Fraser WR (2014). Ecological sexual dimorphism and environmental variability within a community of Antarctic penguins (genus Pygoscelis). PLoS ONE 9(3):e90081. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090081
Individual datasets:
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Palmer Station Antarctica LTER and K. Gorman. 2020. Structural size measurements and isotopic signatures of foraging among adult male and female gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) nesting along the Palmer Archipelago near Palmer Station, 2007-2009 ver 7. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/9fc8f9b5a2fa28bdca96516649b6599b (Accessed 2022-01-11).
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Palmer Station Antarctica LTER and K. Gorman. 2020. Structural size measurements and isotopic signatures of foraging among adult male and female Chinstrap penguins (Pygoscelis antarcticus) nesting along the Palmer Archipelago near Palmer Station, 2007-2009 ver 8. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/ce9b4713bb8c065a8fcfd7f50bf30dde (Accessed 2022-01-11).
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Palmer Station Antarctica LTER and K. Gorman. 2020. Structural size measurements and isotopic signatures of foraging among adult male and female Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) nesting along the Palmer Archipelago near Palmer Station, 2007-2009 ver 5. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/98b16d7d563f265cb52372c8ca99e60f (Accessed 2022-01-11).