Monitoring and managing recovery of nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird populations on recently predator-eradicated Aleutian Islands

Buxton, Rachel T. (Rachel Thérèse) (2010) Monitoring and managing recovery of nocturnal burrow-nesting seabird populations on recently predator-eradicated Aleutian Islands. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Few quantitative data exist measuring nocturnal burrow-nesting seabirds that were heavily affected by predator introductions in the Aleutian Islands, due to challenges associated with monitoring. I evaluated the feasibility of using automated recording and recognition of call activity as a way to examine restoration. I assessed recording quality and call recognition rate in the windy Aleutian environment, characteristic of remote seabird breeding islands. With only 3% of nights unusable due to wind noise, devices were extremely robust. I used this method to inventory call activity across the western Aleutian Islands and relate patterns to recovery rate. I found that nocturnal seabird activity is positively related to time since eradication, however a number of other factors render recovery rate complicated. In order to encourage re-colonization I performed a series of social attraction experiments. Continued acoustic monitoring and artificial attraction are required to promote population recovery throughout the Aleutian chain.

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