PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Reunion Island hosts one of the most unique seabird communities in the world, including two endangered endemic petrels, the Barau's petrel (Pterodroma baraui) and the Mascarene black petrel (Pseudobulweria aterrima). These species are in dire need of emergency conservation measures. They already benefit from national action plans, but the implementation of conservation actions suffers from ecological, technical and financial constraints, resulting in conflicts between nature conservation and socio-economic development. France has the sixth highest proportion of its endemic species threatened at the European level, although these species are mainly located in overseas territories where conservation efforts need to be stepped up to fully implement the EU Biodiversity Strategy by 2020.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the LIFE+ PETRELS project was to stop the loss of Reunion's biodiversity by saving two endemic petrels from extinction. In order to overcome the technical and financial difficulties that hamper the adoption of appropriate conservation measures, demonstrative and innovative management strategies will be implemented. The aim is to develop conservation tools that are adapted to the islands urban context, in order to involve stakeholders in efforts to reduce threats to seabirds and to undertake conservation actions.
RESULTS
The LIFE+ PETRELS project significantly improved the knowledge of the endangered endemic Mascarene petrel (Pseudobulweria aterrima), of which virtually nothing was known prior to the project. Two nesting sites were found by the project, the first-ever nest discoveries for this species, enabling targeted conservation actions to be done. National Action Plans were set up to safeguard Mascarene petrel and another endangered endemic petrel species, the Barau's petrel (Pterodroma baraui), on Reunion Island, an overseas department of France located in the western Indian Ocean region.
The major breakthrough of the project was the discovery of two Mascarene petrel colonies in November 2016 and February 2017. Specific and targeted conservation measures are now being implemented on these breeding sites to protect the nesting birds, eggs and chicks from predatory rats and cats. As a consequence, the breeding success has gone up from 0% to 78% over the last four breeding seasons, as monitored by the project. One of the two colonies has a lower breeding success rate, linked to the fact that the colony is over-populated and burrows are of lesser quality.
Two artificial colonies were set up close to the existing colony by the project team, and these could be of great long-term significance. For the moment, no breeding has been recorded on the artificial colonies, but the number of prospecting birds has significantly increased during the last breeding season. The project team is confident that breeding will occur in the years to come.
Thanks to different types of telemetric devices placed on petrels (97 on Barau's petrel and 45 on Mascarene petrel) and to the genetic studies carried out based on feathers and blood samples, valuable information is being collected. This is improving the knowledge on the species ecology and biology, which was virtually unknown at the beginning of the project in 2014. The project team optimised their time in the field - when not searching for petrels they trapped cats and rats, and conducted other activities.
The local population, municipalities and stakeholders of the island have been sensitised to light pollution (responsible for the stranding of petrels flying to the sea at night) and measures are now being taken to significantly reduce light pollution on the island. This is done by reducing lighting during the birds take-off periods, but also in replacing the most excessively light-polluting lighting devices. Several campaigns have been set up to reduce territorial light pollution. As a consequence, more than 26 000 light spots are to be renovated, which is more than the 100 initially foreseen. A workshop (Atelier territorial) on light pollution geared towards all concerned stakeholders was organised by the coordinating beneficiary, Runion National Park, in October 2019 to discuss how to implement an energy transition on the island and how to make lights less impacting on flying petrels.
The extensive communications actions developed by the project included exhibition panels, videos and films, and a petrel-dedicated video game.
Much of Frances biodiversity is located in its overseas territories. Awareness-raising on the value and the fragility of the overseas habitats and their endemic species is essential, in particular targeted towards decision makers. The project is in line with the EU Biodiversity Strategy, and also the French biodiversity strategy.
The project demonstrated that the decline of two endangered bird species can be halted thanks to a better understanding of their behaviour, as well as that of predators. The project team implementing conservation measures and management strategies that were adapted to the particular context of Reunion Island. The project team tested innovative methods to facilitate conservation work on rugged and poorly-accessible sites, where the two target species nest. Preventing these two petrel species from becoming extinct ensures that future generations will still be able to observe these birds. The project therefore helped to enhance a sense of ownership amongst the local population regarding these two unique bird species.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report and After-LIFE Communication Plan (see "Read more" section).
