The Kauaʻi Endangered Seabird Recovery Project (KESRP) is a Hawaiian Division of Forestry and Wildlife project, administered through the Pacific Studies Co-operative Unit of the University of Hawaiʻi.  Formed in 2006, the project focuses primarily on three threatened seabirds that breed on the island of Kauaʻi – Newell’s Shearwater Puffinus newelli, Hawaiian Petrel Pterodroma sandwichensis and Band-rumped Storm Petrel Oceanodroma castro.

KESRP has recently reported on its work placing cameras at seabird burrows on Kaua‘i and filming feral Domestic Cats Felis catus entering burrows, in two separate cases killing a Newell’s Shearwater and a Hawaiian Petrel (click here).

“In one of the videos, a cat enters a rare Newell’s Shearwater burrow at a site within the Hono o Na Pali Natural Area Reserve.  It is then seen struggling about in the burrow and then emerging with the shearwater in its mouth before killing it and eating parts of it off camera.  The remains of the bird were recovered a few days later by KESRP staff.  The bird was one of a pair of the very rare Newell’s Shearwaters that had successfully fledged a chick last year.”

“The cameras are showing that cats are regularly visiting seabird burrows.  Last year, we had one cat visit nine burrows in a single day – killing a Hawaiian Petrel chick in the process.  If one considers that we are only monitoring a small number of burrows with cameras in a small number of areas, then the true impact of feral cats must be very significant indeed.   These cats are not house pets. They are predators capable of wiping out entire colonies of our native and endemic seabirds.”

“This season, KESRP has already recorded 25 instances on camera of feral cats trying to enter breeding bird burrows, including the two that resulted in the birds inside being killed.  The remains of nine endangered seabirds killed by cats have also been discovered at multiple remote sites around the island so far this season.”

Newell's Shearwater photograph by Eic Vanderwerf

Read more in news accounts in the Star Advertiser and the Garden Isle.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 06 July 2014

David Costantini (Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Wilrijk, Belgium) and colleagues have published in the journal Oecologia on whether oxidative damage has a physiological cost of reproduction in long-lived Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans.

The paper’s abstract follows:

Reproduction is a demanding activity for animals, since they must produce, and in some cases protect and provision, their young.  It is often overlooked that demands of reproduction may also be exacerbated by exposure to contaminants.  In this study, we make use of an exceptional long-term dataset to perform a cross-sectional study on the long-lived wandering albatross (Diomedea exulans) in order to test the effects of reproduction, persistent organic pollutants [POPs: pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)], mercury, individual age (3–47 years), and sex on the levels of plasma oxidative damage and inflammation.  The results of our study support the hypothesis that oxidative damage may be a physiological cost of reproduction and that individuals carrying higher levels of organic or non-organic contaminants have higher oxidative damage.  Levels of the inflammatory protein haptoglobin were similar between breeding and non-breeding birds, with the exception of breeding males which had the lowest levels of haptoglobin.  Our data also show an effect of age and of organic contaminants on the plasma oxidative damage level, but not on plasma haptoglobin.  In addition, plasma oxidative damage level increased with red blood cell mercury concentration in females but not in males.  Hence, our study highlights that the harmful effects of contaminants may come through interaction with factors like life stage or gender, suggesting potential for high variation in susceptibility to contamination among individuals.

An old Wandering Albatross guards its chick

Reference:

Costantini, D., Meillère, A., Carravieri, A., Lecomte, V., Sorci, G., Faivre, B., Weimerskirch, H., Bustamante, P., Labadie, P., Budzinski, H. & Chastel, O. 2014.  Oxidative stress in relation to reproduction, contaminants, gender and age in a long‑lived seabird.  Oecologia.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 05 July 2014

Jean-Baptiste Thiebot (Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé, Villiers-en-bois, France) and colleagues publish in the Japanese journal Ornithological Science on whether Black Rats Rattus rattus affect Amsterdam Albatrosses Diomedea amsterdamensis.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“Introduced mammals may have deleterious effects on avifauna.  We investigated whether such species may be affecting the breeding success of the critically endangered Amsterdam Albatrosses Diomedea amsterdamensis on its remote breeding island.  Twelve camera-traps deployed near albatross nests during the chick brooding period in 2011 captured 25,000 pictures. Two of them showed Black Rats Rattus rattus, but without revealing evidence of any direct interaction between the two species.  Breeding success in 2011 was similar to that in previous years (60%).  Our survey suggests that introduced mammals may not currently represent a primary direct threat to this population, but they might amplify the risks of chick mortality in case of disease outbreaks.”

Amsterdam Albatross, photograph by Scott Shaffer

Reference:

Thiebot, J.-B., Barbraud, C., Delord, K., Marteau, C. & Weimerskirch, H. 2014.  Do introduced mammals chronically impact the breeding success of the world's rarest albatross?  Ornithological Science 13: 41-46.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 04 July 2014

Carlos Teixeira (Instituto Superior Técnico, Departamento de Engenharia Mecânica I, Área Científica de Ambiente e Energia, Lisbon, Portugal) and colleagues have published in the Journal of Sea Research on the growth pattern of the Wandering Albatross Diomedea exulans.

The paper’s abstract follows:

“The Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) and other seabirds exhibit a growing pattern that includes a period of body mass decrease before fledging.  Several hypotheses have been suggested to explain it without success.  We hypothesized that: 1) chicks and adults have similar metabolic traits regulating assimilation, growth and maturation; 2) there is a difference in locomotion effort between chicks and adults, and 3) chicks are exposed to a decline in food availability before fledging.  This set of hypotheses allows for an energy surplus to be available and stored in reserve during the first months of development, explaining the mass recession that starts before fledging and the fact that adults keep a lower weight than fledglings, throughout the rest of their life span.  To test this set of hypotheses we applied the Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) theory.  Using a small set of life-history traits and growth curves we parameterized the DEB standard model.  We confirmed this set of hypotheses and estimated the pattern of decline in food availability that explains mass recession. An assessment of the daily energy intake was also performed.  The implications related to that energy flux and diet composition are discussed based on current knowledge. The DEB model for the Wandering Albatross also provided estimates for the adult daily food ingested by adults (464.06 kJ kg^- 1d^- 1), fasting capacity (25 d), Field Metabolic Rate (4.29 W kg^- 1) and Resting Metabolic Rate (2.87 W kg^- 1).  These values are consistent with the averages obtained in the field, suggesting that DEB may be useful to provide good estimations on a broader scale.”

Wandering Albatross and chick, photograph by Genevieve Jones

Reference:

Teixeira, C.M.G.L., Sousa, T., Marques, G.M., Domingos, T. & Kooijman, S.A.L. 2014.  A new perspective on the growth pattern of the Wandering Albatross (Diomedea exulans) through DEB theory.  Journal of Sea Research  DOI: 10.1016/j.seares.2014.06.006.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 03 July 2014