Antarctic Research Trust
The Antarctic Research Trust (ART) was founded in 1997 and is registered as a non-profit foundation in the Falkland Islands (since 1999), in Switzerland (since 2002) and in the USA (since 2004). The aim of the ART is to carry out or support scientific research projects on Antarctic and sub-Antarctic animals in order to better protect these animals and their habitat .
activities
The scientific director Dr. Klemens Pütz , who is also a co-founder and board member. One focus of research is the nutritional ecology of penguins in the Southwest Atlantic and East Pacific. Some penguin populations in this area have decreased by almost 90% in the last few decades and the ART aims to help identify the causes of this decline. So were z. B. Remote sensing devices attached to rock , magellan , king and gentoo penguins to find out where, when and how the animals forage. Particular attention is also paid to potential interactions with human activities such as oil exploration and fishing . Other projects in which the ART was directly or indirectly involved dealt with the littoral fauna of the Falkland Islands, the population structure of pilot whales and the demographics of albatrosses and petrels . The research results were published in the scientific literature and various other media and made available to the responsible government agencies and environmental protection organizations.
ART is also a member of an alliance for the preservation of the Patagonian marine ecosystem and has contributed to the creation of a comprehensive database that contains oceanographic, biological and meteorological data as well as the distribution and intensity of human activities.
In 2004 the ART acquired the islands of Rum (7 ha), Brandy (25 ha), Whiskey (13 ha) and Sea Lion Easterly (85 ha) in the south of the Falkland Islands (Important Bird Area IBA FK15, BirdLife International). These islands were neither inhabited in the past, nor were foreign animal and plant species introduced. As a result, these pristine islands represent a retreat for the original flora and fauna of the Falkland Islands, including a number of endemic species. The ART intends to put the islands under nature protection.
In 2016, ART also bought Hummock Island (303 ha) in the west of the Falkland Islands. This island was grazed by sheep and horses until 1981, but the grazing was so intense that large eroded areas have formed. During the decades of use, however, no other animals such as rats or mice were introduced, so that a rich animal world could be preserved. Accordingly, Hummock Island has also been designated as an “Important Bird Area” (IBA FK06). The flora is very varied and you can find rare and endemic species, even an as yet undescribed plant species from the genus of the calendrins. The ART intends to build a scientific research station on Hummock and to stop the erosion by large-scale plantings.