The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown... more
The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness.
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SummaryThe Spectacled Petrel Procellaria [aequinoctialis] conspicillata only breeds at Inaccessible Island, central South Atlantic Ocean. During the early 1980s the population was estimated to be at most 1,000 pairs, but hundreds of... more
SummaryThe Spectacled Petrel Procellaria [aequinoctialis] conspicillata only breeds at Inaccessible Island, central South Atlantic Ocean. During the early 1980s the population was estimated to be at most 1,000 pairs, but hundreds of Spectacled Petrels have been killed annually in longline fisheries off the east coast of South America since at least 1987. Although the population is characterized by a unique plumage trait, it is still regarded as a subspecies of the White-chinned Petrel P. aequinoctialis. Analysis of calls and playback experiments show that the Spectacled Petrel is vocally distinct from White-chinned Petrels and should be regarded as a valid biological species. It is also slightly smaller and breeds earlier than the White-chinned Petrel. Given its small population size and known mortality on longlines, the Spectacled Petrel is Endangered in terms of IUCN criteria C1 and C2b. Longline fisheries operating off South America should institute measures to reduce seabird by-...
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Most plastic debris floating at sea is thought to come from land-based sources, but there is little direct evidence to support this assumption. Since 1984, stranded debris has been recorded along the west coast of Inaccessible Island, a... more
Most plastic debris floating at sea is thought to come from land-based sources, but there is little direct evidence to support this assumption. Since 1984, stranded debris has been recorded along the west coast of Inaccessible Island, a remote, uninhabited island in the central South Atlantic Ocean that has a very high macrodebris load (∼5 kg·m−1). Plastic drink bottles show the fastest growth rate, increasing at 15% per year compared with 7% per year for other debris types. In 2018, we examined 2,580 plastic bottles and other containers (one-third of all debris items) that had accumulated on the coast, and a further 174 bottles that washed ashore during regular monitoring over the course of 72 d (equivalent to 800 bottles·km−1·y−1). The oldest container was a high-density polyethylene canister made in 1971, but most were polyethylene terephthalate drink bottles of recent manufacture. Of the bottles that washed up during our survey, 90% were date-stamped within 2 y of stranding. In ...
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Until recently, the spectacled petrel Procellaria conspicillata Gould was listed as Critically Endangered due to its small population size and ongoing incidental mortality on fishing gear. Surveys at its sole breeding locality,... more
Until recently, the spectacled petrel Procellaria conspicillata Gould was listed as Critically Endangered due to its small population size and ongoing incidental mortality on fishing gear. Surveys at its sole breeding locality, Inaccessible Island in the central South Atlantic Ocean, indicated that the population increased from 1999–2004, resulting in the species being down-listed to Vulnerable. We repeated the census of breeding spectacled petrels during the early incubation period in October–November 2009. Numbers of burrows increased by 55% from 2004–09, with increases in all count zones, and the greatest changes in peripheral populations. Burrow occupancy estimates remained high, averaging 81% during one-off checks. Our best estimate of the population in 2009 was 14 400 pairs, continuing the c. 7% per year increase inferred since the 1930s following the disappearance of introduced pigs. This confirms the rapid recovery of this species despite ongoing mortality on fishing gear. O...
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Satellite transmitters were attached to eight adult spectacled petrels Procellaria conspicillata Gould captured during the early incubation period at their breeding grounds on Inaccessible Island, one of the Tristan da Cunha Islands in... more
Satellite transmitters were attached to eight adult spectacled petrels Procellaria conspicillata Gould captured during the early incubation period at their breeding grounds on Inaccessible Island, one of the Tristan da Cunha Islands in the central South Atlantic Ocean. Data on their at-sea distribution was obtained for up to six months. All birds remained within the South Atlantic from 24–44°S, with most between 25 and 40°S. Breeding birds mainly foraged in oceanic waters, but failed breeders or non-breeders concentrated their foraging activity over the Rio Grande Rise and the Walvis Ridge and along the shelf break off the east coast of South America. Little foraging occurred along the Benguela shelf break off southern Africa. Non-breeders favoured relatively warm water with low chlorophyll concentrations, reducing the risk of bycatch in fisheries. Tracked birds spent 16% of their time in areas with high levels of tuna longline fishing activity, with overlap greater for non-breeding...
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Ornithological Observations accepts papers containing faunistic information about birds. This includes descriptions of distribution, behaviour, breeding, foraging, food, movement, measurements, habitat and plumage. It will also consider... more
Ornithological Observations accepts papers containing faunistic information about birds. This includes descriptions of distribution, behaviour, breeding, foraging, food, movement, measurements, habitat and plumage. It will also consider for publication a variety of oth relevant ornithological material: reports of projects and conferences, annotated checklists for a site or region, specialist other interesting or relevant material. Editor: Arnold van der Westhuizen
it is farthest inland breeding site in South Africa, and certainly the highest elevation site
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Inaccessible Island (37°18'S, 12°41'W), one of three main islands in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, South Atlantic Ocean, is uninhabited and is currently free of introduced land mammals. In 1997, the island and surrounding... more
Inaccessible Island (37°18'S, 12°41'W), one of three main islands in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, South Atlantic Ocean, is uninhabited and is currently free of introduced land mammals. In 1997, the island and surrounding territorial waters (to 12 nautical miles from the island) were proclaimed a Nature Reserve in terms of the Tristan da Cunha Conservation Ordinance (1976, as amended 1997). In addition to supporting endemic land birds, invertebrates and plants, Inaccessible is the sole breeding site for the Spectacled Petrel Procellaria conspicillata and supports globally-important populations of several other seabird species. Until recently Inaccessible was the least-known of the Tristan Islands, but the Denstone Expedition in 1982/83 and subsequent visits from 1987–1990 have greatly improved our understanding of the island’s fauna and flora. The seabird fauna is reviewed in Fraser et al. (1988) with updates in Ryan et al. (1990). In this paper we provide further inform...
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Marine Ornithology 40: 69–71 (2012) The Northern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes moseleyi is listed as globally Endangered (BirdLife International 2011) based on evidence that the population has decreased by more than 50% over the last three... more
Marine Ornithology 40: 69–71 (2012) The Northern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes moseleyi is listed as globally Endangered (BirdLife International 2011) based on evidence that the population has decreased by more than 50% over the last three generations (30 years; Cuthbert et al. 2009). More than 80% of the population occurs at the Tristan da Cunha archipelago and Gough Island in the central South Atlantic Ocean. Cuthbert et al. (2009) summarised the available data on Rockhopper Penguin population trends at these islands and highlighted the need for new population estimates for Middle Island in the Tristan group, because it supports the single largest colony of Northern Rockhoppers. Robson et al. (2011) filled this gap and provided further counts for the other islands in the Tristan group. Their findings suggest that the population at Tristan has remained roughly constant over the last three to four decades. It thus appears that recent decreases in Northern Rockhopper numbers in the Atl...
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Beetles are important prey of African Pipits Anthus cinnamomeus but scarab beetles (Scarabaeoidea) are seldom recorded diet.
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SUMMARY New Zealand flax Phormium tenax was introduced to Tristan da Cunha, an island in the central South Atlantic Ocean, in the 1800s. During the following century it was transferred to two other islands in the Tristan archipelago:... more
SUMMARY New Zealand flax Phormium tenax was introduced to Tristan da Cunha, an island in the central South Atlantic Ocean, in the 1800s. During the following century it was transferred to two other islands in the Tristan archipelago: Inaccessible and Nightingale Islands. Although not an aggressive invader, flax spread on both islands threatening their status as among the least disturbed temperate islands remaining in the Southern Ocean. In 2004 an eradication programme was initiated on both islands to clear flax using a combination of uprooting, cutting, crushing and spraying with herbicide. Despite some regrowth, follow-up operations greatly reduced the number of flax plants. Established plants are now confined to about 300 m of cliffs at the Waterfall on Inaccessible Island where clearing is hampered by the steep terrain. Further follow-up management is planned until the plant is eradicated from both islands.
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RYAN, P.G., DILLEY, B.J. & RONCONI, R.A. 2019. Population trends of Spectacled Petrels Procellaria conspicillata and other seabirds at Inaccessible Island. Marine Ornithology 47: 257–265. Inaccessible Island, in the Tristan da Cunha... more
RYAN, P.G., DILLEY, B.J. & RONCONI, R.A. 2019. Population trends of Spectacled Petrels Procellaria conspicillata and other seabirds at Inaccessible Island. Marine Ornithology 47: 257–265. Inaccessible Island, in the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, is the sole breeding site of the Spectacled Petrel Procellaria conspicillata. The island also supports globally important populations of four threatened seabirds, as well as populations of other seabird species. A seabird monitoring protocol was established in 2004, following baseline surveys of most surface-breeding species in 1999. For the species monitored, we report population trends that are based on visits in 2009 and 2018. Populations of most monitored species appear to be stable or increasing, including three albatross species currently listed as Endangered or Critically Endangered. However, numbers of Northern Rockhopper Penguin Eudyptes moseleyi may have decreased slightly since 1999, and numbers of Antarctic Tern Sterna vittata ha...
Anthropogenic debris results in detrimental interactions with many marine species. Several seabirds include debris items in their nests, which can lead to entanglement of chicks and adults, resulting in injury or death. Anthropogenic... more
Anthropogenic debris results in detrimental interactions with many marine species. Several seabirds include debris items in their nests, which can lead to entanglement of chicks and adults, resulting in injury or death. Anthropogenic debris was found in 4-67% of kelp gull Larus dominicanus nests in seven colonies in the Western Cape, South Africa. Nests contained two types of litter: items included in the nest structure during construction (mainly ropes and straps), and regurgitated items (mainly bags and food wrappers) that probably accumulate primarily during the chick-rearing period. Debris used in nest construction was more likely to injure gulls, and was found mainly at coastal sites where there was little natural vegetation for construction. Distance to the nearest urban waste landfill significantly affected the occurrence of debris items in nests, especially dietary-derived items. The amount of debris in kelp gull nests highlights the need for improved debris management in So...
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We provide data on regional differences in plastic ingestion for two Southern Ocean top predators: Arctocephalus fur seals and albatrosses (Diomedeidae). Fur seals breeding on Macquarie Island in the 1990s excreted small (mainly 2-5mm)... more
We provide data on regional differences in plastic ingestion for two Southern Ocean top predators: Arctocephalus fur seals and albatrosses (Diomedeidae). Fur seals breeding on Macquarie Island in the 1990s excreted small (mainly 2-5mm) plastic fragments, probably derived secondarily from myctophid fish. No plastic was found in the scats of these seals breeding on three islands in the southwest Indian and central South Atlantic Oceans, despite myctophids dominating their diets at these locations. Compared to recent reports of plastic ingestion by albatrosses off the east coast of South America, we confirm that plastic is seldom found in the stomachs of Thalassarche albatrosses off South Africa, but found no Diomedea albatrosses to contain plastic, compared to 26% off South America. The reasons for such regional differences are unclear, but emphasize the importance of reporting negative as well as positive records of plastic ingestion by marine biota.
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In addition to protecting species, conservation also includes the maintenance of evolutionary processes, but this aspect is often overlooked. Nesospiza buntings provide a good case study of the need to conserve evolutionary processes.... more
In addition to protecting species, conservation also includes the maintenance of evolutionary processes, but this aspect is often overlooked. Nesospiza buntings provide a good case study of the need to conserve evolutionary processes. They are endemic to the South Atlantic Tristan da Cunha archipelago, and traditionally have been treated as two species, with each having different subspecies on Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands. Both species are listed as Vulnerable because of their small ranges (<20 km2) and the threat posed by the possible introduction of alien organisms such as mice or rats. The two species differ markedly in size, especially bill size, related to dietary differences. However, recent research suggests that morphological diversity evolved independently on Nightingale and Inaccessible Islands, necessitating a revision of the taxonomy within the genus. I recommend that five taxa be recognized, with two endemic to Nightingale and three to Inaccessible Island. N....
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Plastic debris has significant environmental and economic impacts in marine systems. Monitoring is crucial to assess the efficacy of measures implemented to reduce the abundance of plastic debris, but it is complicated by large spatial... more
Plastic debris has significant environmental and economic impacts in marine systems. Monitoring is crucial to assess the efficacy of measures implemented to reduce the abundance of plastic debris, but it is complicated by large spatial and temporal heterogeneity in the amounts of plastic debris and by our limited understanding of the pathways followed by plastic debris and its long-term fate. To date, most monitoring has focused on beach surveys of stranded plastics and other litter. Infrequent surveys of the standing stock of litter on beaches provide crude estimates of debris types and abundance, but are biased by differential removal of litter items by beachcombing, cleanups and beach dynamics. Monitoring the accumulation of stranded debris provides an index of debris trends in adjacent waters, but is costly to undertake. At-sea sampling requires large sample sizes for statistical power to detect changes in abundance, given the high spatial and temporal heterogeneity. Another approach is to monitor the impacts of plastics. Seabirds and other marine organisms that accumulate plastics in their stomachs offer a cost-effective way to monitor the abundance and composition of small plastic litter. Changes in entanglement rates are harder to interpret, as they are sensitive to changes in population sizes of affected species. Monitoring waste disposal on ships and plastic debris levels in rivers and storm-water runoff is useful because it identifies the main sources of plastic debris entering the sea and can direct mitigation efforts. Different monitoring approaches are required to answer different questions, but attempts should be made to standardize approaches internationally.
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We report co-operative group foraging in the African Penguin Spheniscus demersus. Groups of approximately 25 - 165 African Penguins were observed circling schools of pelagic fish, sometimes forcing them to the surface. During this... more
We report co-operative group foraging in the African Penguin Spheniscus demersus. Groups of approximately 25 - 165 African Penguins were observed circling schools of pelagic fish, sometimes forcing them to the surface. During this behaviour 66 - 75% of penguins were underwater at any given time. Smaller numbers of African Penguins also joined foraging groups of Cape Gannets Morus capensis and Cape Cormorants Phalacrocorax capensis, but did not appear to corral fish schools when outnumbered by these species. African Penguins are listed as Endangered due to ongoing rapid population decreases. If group foraging confers an advantage to African Penguins, their dwindling populations may suffer from an Allee effect as colonies become too small to support sufficient densities of birds for foraging groups to form.
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Most albatrosses have well defined breeding seasons (Tickell 2000). Fledging tends to be spread over a longer period than laying or hatching because the duration of the chick-rearing stage is more variable than that of incubation (Warham... more
Most albatrosses have well defined breeding seasons (Tickell 2000). Fledging tends to be spread over a longer period than laying or hatching because the duration of the chick-rearing stage is more variable than that of incubation (Warham 1990). However there are few records of albatross chicks extending fledging periods by more than a month or two (but see Brown & Adams 1984). We were thus surprised to see a juvenile Sooty Albatross Phoebetria fusca on a nest near the meteorological station on Gough Island (40o20’S 9o55’W) during the 2014–15 breeding season, three months after Sooty Albatross chicks usually fledge from Gough Island (Ryan 2007; most chicks fledge in May–June, and in 2015 the last chick near the weather station departed between 17 and 25 July). The late-fledging juvenile was first observed on 17 September 2014 and remained on its nest until at least 14 October, but apparently fledged by 19 October (the nest was empty, and no carcass was found). It seemed to be in good...