Captive Breeding Program for Eastern Loggerhead Shrikes

Imlay, T.I., Crowley, J.F., Argue A.M., Steiner J.C., Norris D.R., Stutchbury, B.J.M. 2010. Survival, dispersal and early migration movements of captive-bred juvenile eastern loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus migrans). Biological Conservation 143: 2578–2582.

Link to article:

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5X-50JGV88-1&_user=742544&_coverDate=11%2F30%2F2010&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=gateway&_origin=gateway&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000041223&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=742544&md5=f49bcf082fdbcc6511cd6da4005bee4d&searchtype=a

Captive breeding programs are established for species that are threatened or endangered to maintain, increase or restore populations in areas where they exist or had existed in the past. Shrikes, a group of migratory passerine birds, are declining around the world. In Canada, there are less than 35 known breeding pairs, which are listed as Endangered by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC, 2010). A study carried out by Imlay et al. (2010) looked at captive-bred eastern loggerhead shrikes (Lanius ludovicianus migrans) in Carden Plain, a Nationally Significant Important Bird Area in the township of Kirkfield, Ontario. These birds were a part of a captive breeding and release program established in 1997 by Environment Canada as a National Recovery Strategy for the species.

Imlay et al. examined post-release survival both before and right after migration had begun, and the natural and human causes of mortality using ground and aerial telemetry. The study was carried out in 2007 and 2008. Captive shrikes with radio transmitters attached were released 5-9 weeks after fledgling (beyond the normal age of independence in the wild, which occurs at about 4 weeks). Eighteen were released in 2007 and 20 were released in 2008, usually in batches in order of when they hatched.

On the ground, birds were tracked every 1-2 days. When encountered, carcasses were retrieved to assess causes of mortality: cleanly plucked feathers was assumed to be a result of raptor predation, chewed body and missing feathers from mammalian predation, and relatively intact bodies from starvation. Shrikes were also tracked through aerial searches four times in 2007 and ten times in 2008. Aerial monitoring was done to determine if they had dispersed from the release site, and then migrated; if the birds could not be found in the study area for several days and couldn’t be re-located by ground, they were assumed to have migrated.

The average annual return rate of juvenile shrikes was about 4.6%, which is about four times higher than the average return rate seen in wild shrikes. Overall survival rate of juvenile shrikes was about 75%. Nine juveniles were found dead, and predation was the cause of mortality in five birds, and unknown for the other four birds. Mortality was not significantly correlated to release date. Migration occurred in August and September, with age at migration negatively correlated to hatch date (i.e. those that hatched earlier, tended to migrate later). During the first stages of migration, no cases of mortality were found.

Providing captive breeding programs for migratory passerines can be difficult. Passerines are known to have high natal dispersal (dispersal from the birth site to a new site where the bird will reproduce), making them hard to track, as it is possible they may recruit in distant populations or die en route to the dispersal site. These types of birds also tend to show high mortality during migration. Although positive results have been revealed for the captive breeding program examined by Imlay et al., it is still very important to understand the reason for the decline of the eastern loggerhead shrike population in order to continue successful efforts in reviving the shrike populations.

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Wells Gray Park Seeks UNESCO World Heritage Status

Link to main article:

http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_thompson_nicola/clearwatertimes/news/117440093.html

Clearwater Times 2011. Wells Gray Park seeks UNESCO World Heritage status. Black Press Group, Victoria, BC. Available from http://www.bclocalnews.com/bc_thompson_nicola/ clearwatertimes/news/117440093.html (accessed March 9, 2011).

Tourism Wells Gray 2010. Wells Gray Country British Columbia – Volcanoes – Waterfalls Wilderness and Wildlife. Tourism Wells Gray, Clearwater, BC. Available from http://www. wellsgray.ca/site/discovering-wells-gray/volcanos.html (accessed March 9, 2011).

UNESCO World Heritage Centre 2011. UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Official Site. UNESCO, Paris, France. Available from http://whc.unesco.org/ (accessed March 9, 2011).

          Wells Gray Provincial Park, one of the four largest parks in British Columbia covering 5400 km² in area, is known for its preservation of a pristine environment, which includes: forests, majestic mountains, rivers, lakes and breath-taking waterfalls, as well as various plant and animal species representative of B.C. The landscape of Wells Gray Park, formed by glaciers from the last ice age, includes the internationally significant volcanic features of the Wells Gray-Clearwater Volcanic Field that began forming about 3,500,000 years ago. It is because of this stunning volcanic landscape that the park was established in 1939. 

                                                                                 Tourism Wells Gray, 2010

            So amazing is the landscape of Wells Gray Park, that there are currently developments in establishing it as a UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) World Heritage Site. At the moment, a consultant is being hired to produce a development plan through the District of Clearwater and the provincial Community Tourism Opportunity program of Thompson Okanagan Tourism. Acquiring World Heritage Status from UNESCO would give the park international recognition, however it is a lengthy process because the World Heritage Committee only meets once a year to review nominations. In the meantime, the development plan will also seek UNESCO GeoPark status, which recognizes sites that are of important to earth sciences.

            An international treaty established in 1972 allowed UNESCO to drive developments to  “identify, protect and preserve cultural and natural heritage” globally that had outstanding value to humanity, and include involvement from communities around the world. In preserving these sites, many of which are of cultural importance, we are protecting irreplaceable sources of inspiration and education about the world’s past, as well as maintaining important ecosystem functions and services for future generations (i.e. these sites have ‘existence values’). The World Heritage List of sites includes 911 properties, some of which include: East Africa’s Serengeti, the Pyramids of Egypt, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and, hitting close to home, the Canadian Rocky Mountain Parks.

            First, nomination to become a World Heritage Site requires that a Tentative List be made of significant cultural and/or natural features of the landscape and after that, a Nomination file must be produced including one of those features. Next, the file is handed over the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the World Conservation Union for evaluation in order to provide recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. Finally, to be selected for the World Heritage List, the area in question must be of “outstanding universal value” and meet one or more of ten selection criteria (for more info, visit: http://whc.unesco.org/en/criteria). A few of the criteria that stood out to me as applying to Wells Gray Park were:

              vii.    “To contain superlative natural phenomena or areas of exceptional natural beauty and aesthetic importance,”

            viii.     “To be outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history, including the record of life, significant on-going geological processes in the development of landforms, or significant geomorphic or physiographic features,” and

                ix.    “To be outstanding examples representing significant on-going ecological and biological processes in the evolution and development of terrestrial, fresh water, coastal and marine ecosystems and communities of plants and animals.”

            According to this criteria, it seems there should almost be no problem in establishing Wells Gray Park as a World Heritage Site considering its outstanding pristine environment, in which humans can is still set foot while at the same time preserving these amazing and important geological processes (ex. erosion by waterfalls) and ecological and biological processes that still take place naturally. Coining Wells Gray Park as a World Heritage Site has its benefits in maintaining its conservation, providing an increase in revenue from tourism for cities close by, like Clearwater, and earning it international recognition. However, potential negative impacts must also be considered. Yes, Wells Gray will be known to the people of the world, but this also means that tourism in this park will bring a substantial increase in human activity, due largely to the fact that Wells Gray does allow human recreational activity, provided it is environmentally compatible. More people means more intensive management will be required in the area to ensure that the environment remains as it has all these years. In my opinion, the benefits would outweigh the costs as long as people respect that park as they have all these years and management is maintained.

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Humans are a Threatened Species Too: The Real Life ‘Avatar’ Story

 Butler, RA. 2009. The real Avatar story: indigenous people fight to save their forest homes from corporate exploitation, San Francisco, CA. Available from http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1222-hance_avatar.html (accessed February 9, 2011).

Link to article: 

 http://news.mongabay.com/2009/1222-hance_avatar.html 

 

The exploitation of sacred human habitats in our world by industrial companies is not much different from what we see in the epic film ‘Avatar.’ The alien tribe, called the Na’vi, fight to protect their sacred lands from the human invaders on their planet with a hunger to snatch up highly profitable land. In reality, indigenous tribes fight, and most of the time fail (unlike their film counterparts) to keep their habitats safe and secure from the intense influence of industries and their military forces. This article explored some of the harshest battles that have, and are still occurring amongst industries and native tribes.

"Peruvian security forces killing indigenous protesters in Peru. Photo © 2009 Marijke Deleu" 

In June 2009, indigenous tribes of Peru protested against ranks of armies with machine guns and tear gas. These protests began as a result of regulations proposed by President Alan Garcia, which allowed easier entry onto their lands by industries who craved for the oil, timber and minerals that were available. Many police and tribal members were killed during the conflict. Protests by fuming tribes continue because they are not being contacted about further developments that continue to be planned. However, President Garcia has yet to change his mind about going through with the projects, saying that indigenous people are "confused savages", "barbaric", "second-class citizens", "criminals", and "ignorant.”

"Photos of an uncontacted tribe in the Terra Indigena Kampa e Isolados do Envira, Acre state, Brazil, near the border with Peru, caused a stir when they were released by Survival International, an NGO, in May 2008. The indigenous group is said to be threatened by oil exploration in the area. © Gleison Miranda/FUNAI."

The Penan tribe of Borneo Malaysia not only suffers from the exploitation of its ancestral lands, and tribal and burial sites by industrial loggers, but also endures such violent acts as rape and alleged murder at the hands of these intruders. The logging activities began in the 80s without any motion for recovery of forests or tribal habitats due to new developments such as palm oil plantations. The Penan have certainly attempted to fight back with lawsuits, road barricades, and declaration of a ‘peace park’ (an unofficial reserve) but when loggers have so much power in threatening their lives, there is little they can do. Many who have been extreme activists against the loggers, like former Penan chief, Kelesau Naan, have been allegedly murdered or have mysteriously disappeared. As for the rape cases of young girls, the government brushed it off as ‘good story-telling.’

In Ecuador, the indigenous tribes have filed a $27 billion lawsuit against Texaco, a company now owned by Chevron, for dumping 18 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon rainforest between 1964-1990. This event is known as the ‘Amazon Chernobyl.’ The health of the tribes has been severely threatened by the toxic waste, which has already caused one tribe to disappear completely. A ruling has yet to be made on the lawsuit that began in 2003, and Chevron continues to remain stubborn in paying for any damages that have resulted: ‘"We're not paying and we're going to fight this for years if not decades into the future," according to Chevron spokesman Don Campbell.’

As miserable as it is, humans have the ability to extrapolate their anthropogenic effects on their own kind, simply to acquire resources that will increase their own fortune. These indigenous tribes are truly a part of an ecosystem in which natural resources are being exploited. In fact, they seem to resemble a concept that we have learned in class to be called an ‘externality,’ or hidden cost in these economic transactions with the environment. So…is it even possible to put these tribes on the ‘Vulnerable Species List?’

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Madagascar’s people and endemic species suffer as illegal logging of precious woods continues

WWF, 2011. WWF to Madagascar’s president: keep your promise and stop illegal logging. World Wildlife Fund International, Gland, Switzerland. Available from http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?198893/WWF-to-Madagascars-president-keep-your-promise-and-stop-illegal-logging (accessed January 2011).

Link to article:

http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/?198893/WWF-to-Madagascars-president-keep-your-promise-and-stop-illegal-logging

Overexploitation that was already occurring in the northeastern forests of Madagascar escalated after a political crisis that occurred in 2009. This resulted in 20,000 hectares of one the most diverse forests in the world to be destroyed. Already known as one of the poorest countries of the world, loggers and villagers struck back, and rosewood mafia capable of bribing government officials set out to obtain trees for resources (Wikipedia 2011). Illegal logging of the precious woods continues, even after the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) stepped in with an online petition of 5000 signatures to protect the forests. Last October, the president of the transitional government on Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, met with WWF representatives to make an official declaration to cease logging of these woods. Rajoelina had made several claims that have yet to be fulfilled, including communicating with countries like China to cease the import of rosewood products and co-financing these actions with government funds. Management plans were also discussed, which were intended to be passed over to local authorities to secure the forests. However, no such action has taken place since the meeting, except for a ban on exporting precious redwood species being published as a listing in an appendix of CITES (Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). CITES is an international organization that works to protect wild animal and plant species that may be at risk due to trade (CITES Secretariat, 2011). In addition to threats to the trees of the forests, even the animals, such as the endemic lemurs, have been butchered for restaurant delicacies or eaten by the loggers; these species are clearly suffering from habitat destruction as well.

Conservation issues can become extremely complicated especially in situations involving countries struck by poverty and political turmoil. In these cases, it is up to authorities of the global community to step in and save both endangered habitats and species, and a whole government from destruction. I believe the right steps have been taken so far, for example, the petition by WWF, and it will take time and proper resources to take control of the situation any further.

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The threat of wind turbines to bat mortality

Piorkowski, M.D. and O'Connell, T.J. 2010. Spatial pattern of summer bat mortality from collisions with wind turbines in mixed-grass prairie. The American Midland Naturalist 164:260-269.

http://www.bioone.org.ezproxy.tru.ca/doi/full/10.1674/0003-0031-164.2.260

Wind turbine developments are increasing in number across North America as an alternative energy source, however, their potential risks on bat & bird mortality has been recognized. A recent study, conducted by Piorkowski and O'Connell (2010), included a spatial analysis at the Oklahoma Wind Energy Center (OWEC), in Great Plains, Oklahoma, USA, to find evidence of reduced mortality rates as a result of birds or bats colliding with wind turbines. More specifically, due to the presence of two different bat colonies within 15km of OWEC, the influence of wind turbines in close proximity to large maternity colonies was also of interest. The main objectives were: (1) to determine the rate of bat collision mortality per turbine during the summer, and (2) to discover if the spatial distribution of collision mortality was linked to local topography, vegetation, and flight corridors used by bats to and from their roost. In 2004 and 2005, during May and July of each year, various carcass surveys for bats and birds killed by turbines were conducted. The results showed that mortality was spread throughout 68% of the turbines at OWEC. Most of those carcasses were of various bat species; Brazilian free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis) accounted for most of the bat fatalities (85%). Spatial analyses did not show a strong pattern of mortality estimates, but collision mortality was higher at turbines close to eroded ravines –referred to as ‘hot spots’ of collision mortality in this study. Further research would be required to gather information about: parameters for predicting hot spots of wind turbines in association with seasons and years; identifying specific characteristics of hot spots; and examining whether factors like wind strength and direction could account for collision mortality in these areas. For species management issues, if continued monitoring shows the persistence of the presently identified hot spots at OWEC, Piorkowski and O'Connell recommend re-establishing the turbines and, ultimately, finding a balance between the goals to reduce collision mortality and the economic and environmental goals of power generation. Also, for future developments of wind farms, it was advised to examine the potential risks to individuals within colonies in close proximity to the areas, taking into consideration the daily foraging routes to and from roosts that may intersect with proposed developments.

Piorkowski and O'Connell reflect on a very important issue of yet another man-made threat that is still under research to implicate the best measures for appropriate management. In fact, organizations such as the Bats and Wind Energy Cooperative (BWEC) (formed in 2003 as a branch of alliance of Bat Conservation International, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the American Wind Energy Association and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US Department of Energy) have been formed to provide more data on the issues of bat collision mortality (Bat Conservation International, 2010).

Bats and Wind Energy:

http://www.batcon.org/index.php/what-we-do/bats-and-wind-energy.html

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