ACAP Latest News reports on a PhD opportunity with Cory's Shearwaters Calonectris borealis (Least Concern), working at the Unversity of Barcelona in Spain.

Cory's Shearwater at sea, photograph by John Graham

“We are seeking for a dedicated, highly-motivated and enthusiastic predoctoral fellow to develop her/his doctoral thesis at Marta Riutort’s Lab (@RiutortLab) in the Universitat de Barcelona in collaboration with Jacob González-Solís' lab in a project entitled The Genetic Basis of Seabird Movement.

What is our project?

Shearwaters are a uniquely pelagic group of seabird species that have adapted over the past ~15 million years to the relatively uniform ocean environment in a diversity of ways. They are ocean wanderers that exhibit strikingly different scales and patterns of migratory and foraging movements. A significant proportion of the phenotypic variance in migratory traits is genetic and has high heritabilities, but the genes involved in shaping these phenotypes are still largely unknown and we know even less about the genetic basis of foraging strategies. Over the last 15 years, we have gathered a database of hundreds of tracks deploying geolocation-based and GPS loggers on Cory’s shearwaters at several breeding colonies. Several characteristics of the tracks show remarkable repeatabilities suggesting a genetic control of some aspects of the migratory and foraging behaviour. Using NGS methodologies and our knowledge on the phenology of these movement s we expect to be able to characterize their genetic bases.

To do what?

The successful candidate will carry out fieldwork at a Cory’s shearwater colony in the Canary Islands to increase the tracking database on related individuals and will also work in the wet lab preparing DNA extractions for Next-generation sequencing (NGS). Last, but not least, she/he will perform quantitative genetics analyses and will map migratory and/or foraging phenotypes to the genotypes. The candidate will have the opportunity to collaborate with researchers within and outside our research group.

Who?

The prospective candidates must hold a Master degree in Biology or similar scientific area and must have a Bachelor’s (Grado) grade higher than 8/10 (Spanish system) in order to compete for a PhD fellowship (FI from Generalitat de Catalunya, FPU from Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional or APIF from Universitat de Barcelona).

Preference will be given to candidates with:

Previous experience in DNA extraction

Knowledge of Linux computer systems

Basic knowledge of the R and/or Python environments

Basic knowledge of NGS sequencing and bioinformatics

For further information and expressions of interest, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (Universitat de Barcelona). The deadline for applications is the 10th September and the PhD will start in January 2019.”

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 13 August 2018

A Global Audit of Biodiversity Monitoring has been proposed by BirdLife International with funding from the Cambridge Conservation Initiative (CCI) Collaborative Fund.

“A number of initiatives and international conventions seek to address the issue of the declining state of the world's biodiversity, notably by implementing conservation actions and promoting sustainable development. Effective action requires to be evidence based to set clear targets and priorities, measure progress and appropriately report on impacts to the key stakeholders and actors to inspire further involvement. In this context, the production and dissemination of biodiversity information, such as biodiversity monitoring data, is primordial.

Monitoring biodiversity includes tracking changes in species' abundance and occurrence. It is particularly important to help assess the changing conservation status of species, measure and report on the impact of conservation plans or of threats on species, manage natural resources, monitor sustainability or environmental impact of businesses and help raise awareness of conservation issues.

While a considerable amount of data on species monitoring is already available, some gaps have already been identified and need further investigation. Furthermore, locating the sources, databases and methodologies is difficult and time-consuming, reducing access to relevant information for end-users, decision- and policy- makers.

Supported by extensive and global network of partners and collaborators, this project aims to take stock of the distribution and coverage of species monitoring by undertaking a global audit of species monitoring schemes.”

A Campbell Albatross preens its chick, photograph by David Evans

Contributions by researchers working withACAP-listed albatrosses and petrels can be made by way of an online survey.

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 August 2018

This year is proving to be a record year for stranded globally Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater Puffinus yelkouan in Malta with nine fledglings recovered by members of the public during June and July following an appeal.    The birds had become disorientated due to light pollution; after capture they were released by BirdLife Malta's LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija project team.  “During this period, the young seabirds fledge from their nests in the cliffs at night for the first time.  However, bright coastal lights leave them disorientated and some of them become stranded inland in urban areas, unable to fly back out to sea”.

Yelkouan Shearwater, photograph by Matthew Borg Cardona

Click on the video to watch some of the releases.

“The Maltese Islands are home to approximately 10% of the global population of this seabird species, therefore their protection is important on the global scale, especially with the drastic declines Yelkouan Shearwaters have been facing over the last decades.”

Read more here.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 August 2018

Following a call made by the ACAP Secretariat in December last year (click here) 10 grant applications were received from Parties for small grants by the February 2018 deadline.  The applications were assessed, as appropriate, by referees from the three ACAP Working Groups (Population and Conservation Status, Seabird Bycatch and Taxonomic) under the coordination of the Working Group Convenors and the Grants Subcommittee.  Due to declared conflicts of interest some members of the Grants Subcommittee did not contribute to assessing applications with which they were involved.

The Secretariat had originally advised that a total of AUD 120 000 was available for small grants. This level of funds has allowed six of the 10 applications to be supported. Three of them address seabird bycatch issues; the remaining three address a review of a bi-national plan of action, exposure to plastics and population monitoring. The total of funds allocated to the successful applications is AUD 111 005; the remainder of the available funds will be retained and included in the 2019 small grants round to occur following the Eleventh Meeting of the ACAP Advisory Committee (AC11) in Brazil in May next year.

A list of the six funded projects with their submitting Parties and project leaders follows:

Argentina:  Assessing the overlap between threatened pelagic seabirds and trawl fisheries operating in northern Patagonian Shelf.  Juan Pablo Seco Pon & Sofía Copello (IIMyC, CONICET-UNMDP, Argentina)

Brazil:  Hookpod for seabirds and sea turtles: looking towards a multi-taxa approach for reducing bycatch in pelagic longlines.  Dimas Gianuca (Projeto Albatroz)

Brazil:  Prevalence and magnitude of plastic exposure (macro and microplastics and select chemical compounds) in albatrosses and petrels off the shores of Argentina and Brazil.  Marcela Uhart (University of California) & Patricia Pereira Serafini (CEMAVE / ICMBio / MMA)

Ecuador:  Comprehensive review of the Bi-national Plan of Action for the Critically Endangered Waved Albatross Phoebastria irrorata.  Caroline Icaza (Ecuador) & Elisa Goya (Peru)

New Zealand:  Global review of nature and extent of trawl net captures.  Graham Parker (Parker Conservation)

Spain:  First conservation diagnosis of the Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus in Ibiza.  Meritxell Genovart (CSIC)

Waved Albatross, photograph by Ron LeValley

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 07 August 2018