Data from: A remote-controlled observatory for behavioural and ecological research: a case study on emperor penguins

1. Long-term photographic recordings of animal populations provide unique insights in ecological and evolutionary processes. However, image acquisition at remote locations under harsh climatic conditions is highly challenging. 2. We present a robust, energetically self-sufficient and remote-controlled observatory designed to operate year-round in the Antarctic at temperatures below -50 °C and wind speeds above 150 km/h. The observatory is equipped with multiple overview cameras and a high resolution steerable camera with a telephoto lens for capturing images with high spatial and temporal resolution. 3. Our observatory has been in operation since 2013 to investigate an emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colony at Atka Bay near the German Neumayer III research station. Data recorded by this observatory give novel biological insights in animal life cycle and demographic trends, but also in collective and individual behaviour. As an example, we present data showing how wind speed and direction influence movements of the entire colony and of individual penguins. We also estimate daily fluctuations in the total number of individuals present at the breeding site. 4. Our results demonstrate that remote-controlled observation systems can bridge the gap between remote sensing, simple time-lapse recording setups, and on-site observations by human investigators to collect unique biological datasets of undisturbed animal populations.1. 动物种群的长期影像记录可为生态学与演化过程研究提供独特洞察。然而，在气候严酷的偏远地区开展图像采集工作极具挑战性。 2. 本研究介绍了一款鲁棒性强、能量自给且支持远程操控的观测台站，可在南极地区-50℃以下、风速超150公里/小时的极端环境下全年不间断运行。该观测台站搭载多台全景相机，以及一台配备长焦镜头的高分辨率可操控相机，可获取兼具高空间与时间分辨率的影像。 3. 该观测台站自2013年起投入运行，用于研究位于德国诺伊迈尔Ⅲ号科考站附近阿特卡湾的帝企鹅（Aptenodytes forsteri）种群。该台站记录的数据不仅为动物生命周期与种群动态趋势研究提供了全新的生物学视角，也为集群与个体行为研究提供了重要支撑。例如，本研究展示了风速与风向如何影响整个种群及个体企鹅的移动模式；同时我们还估算了繁殖栖息地内种群总数量的每日波动情况。 4. 本研究结果表明，远程操控观测系统可填补遥感技术、简易延时录制装置与人类现场观测之间的技术空白，从而获取未受干扰的野生动物种群的独特生物学数据集。