News : keeping seabirds off the hook

Lasers can rescue seabirds

Foto: J.M. Arcos

The newspaper "El Pais" published on the use of laser light to reduce seabird bycatch in Galicia.  See here (in Spanish)

New publication on Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins - Kenya

Pérez-Jorge, S., Pereira, T., Corne, C., Wijtten, Z., Omar, M.,  Katello, J., Kinyua, M., Oro, D., amd Louzao, M. 2015.Can Static Habitat Protection Encompass Critical Areas for Highly Mobile Marine Top Predators? Insights from Coastal East Africa PloSOne DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0133265

Abstract: Along the East African coast, marine top predators are facing an increasing number of anthropogenic threats which requires the implementation of effective and urgent conservation measures to protect essential habitats. Understanding the role that habitat features play on the marine top predator’ distribution and abundance is a crucial step to evaluate the suitability of an existing Marine Protected Area (MPA), originally designated for the protection of coral reefs. We developed species distribution models (SDM) on the IUCN data deficient Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) in southern Kenya. We followed a comprehensive ecological modelling approach to study the environmental factors influencing the occurrence and abundance of dolphins while developing SDMs. Through the combination of ensemble prediction maps, we defined recurrent, occasional and unfavourable habitats for the species. Our results showed the influence of dynamic and static predictors on the dolphins’ spatial ecology: dolphins may select shallow areas (5-30 m), close to the reefs (< 500 m) and oceanic fronts (< 10 km) and adjacent to the 100m isobath (< 5 km).We also predicted a significantly higher occurrence and abundance of dolphins within the MPA. Recurrent and occasional habitats were identified on large percentages on the existing MPA (47% and 57% using presence-absence and abundance models respectively). However, the MPA does not adequately encompass all occasional and recurrent areas and within this context, we propose to extend the MPA to incorporate all of them which are likely key habitats for the highly mobile species. The results from this study provide two key conservation and management tools: (i) an integrative habitat modelling approach to predict key marine habitats, and (ii) the first study evaluating the effectiveness of an existing MPA for marine mammals in the Western Indian Ocean.

Kenya Marine Mammal Network

Award! Watson Raptor Prize 2015

The publication by Sergio et al. won the Watson Raptor Prize for the best publication on raptors of 2014. Congratulation to all (again) and thank to the Watson Birds Organization  !!

New Publication on Scopoli's Shearwater!

Hernandez, N., Genovart, M., Igual, J.-M. and Oro, D., 2015 The influence of environmental conditions on the age pattern in breeding performance in a transequatorial migratory seabird. Forntiers in Ecology and Evolution.http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2015.00069

 Abstract: Several studies of marine top predators, above all of seabirds, have analyzed the effects of either individual age or environmental fluctuations on reproduction; nevertheless, little is known about the age patterns in breeding performance in a variable environment.

Photo: Pedro Trejo (c)

To investigate the simultaneous influence of age and environmental conditions on laying dates and egg volumes, we tested different climate and food availability indices in a transequatorial migratory seabird using female data from a 23-year study. Our results show an improvement in breeding parameters with age (i.e., earlier laying dates and greater egg volumes) but no pattern of senescence in older age groups. The best models showed an interaction of time and age in breeding performance, i.e., the age pattern of breeding performance changed each year likely as a result of environmental variability.
Nevertheless, climatic indexes used here explained part of that annual variability: NAO and SOI index accounted for 24 and 20% of deviances in laying dates and egg volume, respectively. Part of that unexplained variability might be related to other processes such as intermittent breeding and the individual quality of breeders, which were not assessed in our study.