At a small and informal ceremony at the end of January in the ACAP office suite in Salamanca Square, Hobart, ACAP's first Executive Secretary, Warren Papworth handed over the reins (and the key to the door) to Marco Favero of Argentina.  Following an advertising of the position Marco was chosen to take over from Warren as ACAP's second Executive Secretary in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain at the time of the Fifth Session of the Meeting of Parties held in May last year (click here).

Marco was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1963 and studied marine biology at the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata.  After his graduation in 1986, he started a 20-year research project in Antarctica, and later earned his Doctoral degree for his thesis on Antarctic seabird ecology.  His background in the biology and ecology of top marine predators comprises over 200 publications including research articles and presentations at scientific conferences.

Last day in the office, first day in the office.  Outgoing Executive Secretary Warren Papworth and incoming Marco Favero confer at HQ ACAP

Marco previously chaired ACAP's Advisory Committee, presiding over five meetings since 2007.  With his new role, the committee's Vice Chair, Mark Tasker, has taken over in an acting capacity until new appointments can be made.  Mark will steer the next meeting (the 9th) of the Advisory Committee, to be held this May in La Serena, Chile.

The ACAP Secretariat wishes Warren Papworth a well-earned retirement spending more time with his family, in particular his grandchildren after his six years at the helm, and looks forward to working with Marco Favero in the months and years to come.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 12 February 2016

Meritxell Genovart (Population Ecology Group, IMEDEA (CSIC-UIB), Esporles, Mallorca, Spain) and colleagues have written in the Journal of Applied Ecology have modelled the demography of the Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus – an ACAP-listed species.

Balearic Shearwater, photograph by Daniel Oro

The paper’s summary follows:

“Worldwide, many seabirds are affected by fisheries in opposing ways: as a source of mortality from bycatch, but also by providing discards as a predictable and abundant food resource.  This applies to the Balearic shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus, the most endangered European seabird, whose time to extinction was estimated at only ~40 years a decade ago.

Since the previous assessment, new data and more sophisticated demographic modelling have become available, and new fishing policies from the European Union (Common Fisheries Policy, CFP) will apply, posing different scenarios for the viability of the species.  Thus, there is both an urgent need and an opportunity for a more reliable update of the conservation status of the species.

Demographic data were collected between 1985–2014 at one of the world's largest colonies.  Most demographic parameters were estimated using multi-event capture–recapture modelling.  Some parameters, such as bycatch rate, immature individual survival and recruitment were estimated for the first time.  We incorporated estimates into stochastic population models to forecast time to extinction and assess the viability under different management scenarios, accounting for upcoming fishing policies.

Adult survival was much lower than expected (0.809, SE: 0.013), and largely influenced by bycatch, which accounted for a minimum of 0.455 (SE: 0.230) of total mortality.  Breeding success was positively correlated with discard availability.  Recruitment started at low rates in 3-year-old birds (0.030, SE: 0.0455), increasing in following age classes and was almost complete at 6 years.  Under the present scenario, we predict a time to extinction of 61 years (95% CI: 55–69).

Synthesis and applications.  Population projections suggest that the actual impact of fisheries on Balearic shearwaters is unsustainable and the imminent discard bans under the new Common Fisheries Policy may accelerate the declining trend.  This study demonstrates that reducing the bycatch rates of fisheries is an unavoidable and urgent conservation measure for avoiding the extinction of the species.  We also advise setting up demographic long-term studies, to allow researchers to diagnose, with reliability, the effectiveness of management actions.  These actions will also benefit many other marine top-predator species affected by this anthropogenic impact.”

Reference:

Genovart, M., Arcos, J.M., Álvarez, D., McMinn, M., Meier, R., Wynn, R., Guilford, T. & Oro, D. 2016. Demography of the critically endangered Balearic shearwater: the impact of fisheries and time to extinction.  Journal of Applied Ecology DOI: 10.1111/1365-2664.12622.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 February 2016

Wisdom, a female Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis who is at least 65 years old has hatched her latest egg on 1 February on the USA’s Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (well actually her partner had been incubating since 20 January when the egg hatched on 1 February, Wisdom was then at sea).

Wisdom's mate feeds the hatchling on 2 February 2916, photograph by Kiah Walker, USF&WS

Wisdom returned from a long foraging trip to take over rearing duties on the 7th and the banded male departed the same day.  “We expect him to be back within a week or less because newly hatched albatross chicks require a consistent supply of fresh seafood.”  This season’s chick has been named Kūkini (Hawaiian for messenger).  Following an on-line poll the following names are on the short list for Wisdom’s mate:

Ahonui (Hawaiian name meaning single act of patience and perseverance; English parallel word: Patience)
Endurance
Akeakamai (Hawaiian word meaning yearning for or lover of wisdom)
Popsicle

Wisdom has successfully raised at least eight chicks since 2006, and perhaps as many as 40 in her lifetime.  Read more here and watch a video clip of the hatching here.

The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge falls within the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument which was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2010.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 February 2016

ACAP Latest News has regularly reported on the parlous state of Tristan Albatrosses Diomedea dabbenena on Gough Island in the South Atlantic whose downy chicks are attacked and killed by introduced House Mice Mus musculus every year, leading to a low and non-sustainable breeding success (click here).  More recently such behaviour has been reported for mice on sub-Antarctic Marion Island where four species of albatrosses are at risk (click here).

News is now in that similar attacks, this time on incubating Laysan Phoebastria immutabilis and Black-footed P. nigripes Albatrosses in the Northern Hemisphere, are taking place on the USA’ s Midway Atoll.

Laysan Albatross pair, photograph by James Lloyd

The press release from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is reproduced here in its entirety.

“Scientists Document Non-native Mice Attacking Nesting Albatrosses at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

Amongst the more than 480,000 nests of the world’s largest albatross colony, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists and volunteers recently discovered house mice attacking adult nesting Laysan and black-footed albatrosses at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, part of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument.  Mice attacks have been documented at other islands, on other seabirds, but never at Midway on the large albatrosses. An albatross stands almost three feet tall with a wingspan of more than six feet and has a deeply ingrained drive to steadfastly incubate its egg through adversity.  This evolutionary strategy is successful for withstanding fierce north-Pacific winter weather and aggressive neighboring birds, but leaves the albatross extremely vulnerable to non-native, predatory rodents.  As Midway’s albatrosses faithfully incubate, many are now being bitten and preyed upon by non-native mice during the night – causing debilitating injuries and often death.

This phenomenon was first observed at the end of December 2015 when Refuge scientists and volunteers found open wounds on the backs, necks, and heads of nesting albatrosses in a small area on Sand Island, Midway Atoll.  Using automatic cameras, live traps, and laboratory examination of bite marks on mortally-wounded birds; scientists rapidly identified the cause of the injuries as attacking non-native house mice. Since then, more than 300 nesting adult albatrosses are known to have been attacked and the mouse aggression has spread to 2 additional areas in the seabird colony.  Forty-eight bitten birds are known to have died and at least 46 nests have been abandoned. Death is believed to come from infection in the open wounds, as well as severe stress to the birds as mice chew at them persistently throughout the night. “Wisdom”, the world’s oldest known wild bird, is nesting roughly ¾ of a mile away, far from the mice-attack zones.

“The Service is working against the clock to determine how many birds have been attacked, what the rate of spread is, and how to stop the attacks,” reported Bob Peyton, Manager of Midway Atoll Refuge. “Albatrosses lay only one egg a season and those eggs are hatching now. Our short-term objective is to eliminate mouse predation on the albatrosses before other mice learn this behavior and attack and kill more adults and chicks.”

House mice (Mus musculus) are not native to Midway Atoll and were inadvertently introduced to the atoll decades ago.  Mice coexisted amongst the millions of seabirds that nest on the ground, in burrows, and in trees at Midway without obvious conflict most years. Refuge managers and scientists are uncertain what created the current dramatic and grisly change in mouse behavior but ground-nesting seabirds have not evolved behaviors to protect themselves from rodent predation.

“I have been working in the Pacific for over 25 years and this is an entirely new and debilitating phenomenon that I haven’t witnessed before,” noted Dr. Thierry Work a Wildlife Disease Specialist from the U.S. Geological Survey Wildlife Health Center.

Refuge managers are working with a team of rodent control and wildlife experts to develop and deploy strategies to suppress mouse population levels in order to stop the attacks or minimize their incidence.  With thousands of albatross chicks hatching out of their eggs daily on Midway over the next month, the Service and partners are determined to preserve and maintain suitable predator-free habitat where albatross parents can adequately protect and raise their chicks.”

Albatross eggs are hatching now in the Northern Hemisphere.  It remains to be seen if the Midway mice will switch to attacking chicks during the brood and guard stages, and once they are left on their own, as happens on Gough and Marion.

With thanks to Peter Ryan for the link.

Selected References:

Davies, D., Dilley, B.J., Bond, A.L., Cuthbert, R.J. & Ryan, P.G. 2015.  Trends and tactics of mouse predation on Tristan Albatross Diomedea dabbenena chicks at Gough Island, South Atlantic Ocean.  Avian Conservation and Ecology 10(1): 5. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ACE-00738-100105.

Dilley, B.J., Schoombie, S., Schoombie, J. & Ryan, P.G. 2015.  ‘Scalping’ of albatross fledglings by introduced mice spreads rapidly at Marion Island.  Antarctic Science doi.org/10.1017/S0954102015000486.

Kepler, C.B. 1967.  Polynesian Rat predation on nesting Laysan Albatrosses and other Pacific seabirds.  The Auk 84: 426-430.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 February 2016