Bertarelli-Annual-Report-2024-FULL - Flipbook - Page 23
Marine Science 2024
Across the Western Indian Ocean region our team and
numerous collaborators continued to collect samples from
seabird colonies to explore connectivity among seabird
communities, e.g., Ashmore reef (Australia), Maldives and
Tromelin. This included a multi-disciplinary expedition
in Saint Brandon (Mauritius), where the team conducted
seabird research and undertook coral surveys to look
for the critically endangered Ctenella chagius. The team
included biologists and researchers from the government
of Mauritius, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust,
Mauritian Wildlife Foundation and University of Oxford.
Seabird Connectivity
Lead Investigators: Dr. Malcolm Nicoll, Zoological
Society of London; Dr. Matthieu le Corre, Université de La
Réunion, and Dr. Steve Votier, Heriot-Watt University
In 2024 the team completed their fieldwork in the Chagos
Archipelago, culminating in a successful two-week
field trip to Nelson’s Island in January. Working at these
relatively pristine sites is such an incredible experience –
the noise, smell and vibrancy of healthy seabird islands is
rare today and remains one of the world’s great wildlife
spectacles. Highlights included successfully tracking
chick-rearing wedge-tailed shearwaters on their at-sea
foraging journeys and capturing the first bird-borne
footage of red-footed boobies catching flying fish on the
wing. The latter was particularly challenging, but finally
revealed how frequent these aerial pursuits can be.
In the labs the team completed the analyses of
connectivity between colonies of the tropical shearwater
in the Western Indian Ocean. Initial results indicate strong
separation between colonies in the north of the range
(Seychelles and Chagos) and those in the south (Europa
and La Réunion).
The team produced publications with important
implications for seabird conservation in the region.
One identified the presence of separate colonies
(i.e., conservation management units) of the critically
endangered Mascarene petrel on La Réunion, which will
contribute to the National Action Plan for endemic petrels
of La Réunion. Another, in collaboration with Island
Conservation Seychelles and University of Seychelles,
identified important marine areas for foraging breeding
red-footed boobies in southwest Seychelles, which can be
used to inform ongoing marine spatial planning processes.
The team also generated publications and five MSc student
theses, which demonstrated the year-round residency
and ecosystem contributions of red-footed boobies in the
Chagos Archipelago and enhanced our understanding
of how tropical seabirds optimize their navigation, select
foraging areas in the tropical ocean and how these
decisions are shaped by environmental conditions.
Juvenile brown booby, Grande Ile Bois Mangue © Leila Scheltema
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