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Falklands Conservation |
From Falklands Conservation Newsletter 48, Stanley
October 2000
Penguin Census 2000
The forthcoming summer will see Falklands Conservation undertaking a complete census of Falkland populations of Rockhopper, Gentoo and King penguins - something not carried out since the austral summer 1995-96 when direct colony counts were obtained from all known breeding locations around both East and West Falkland and offshore islands. Whilst there is much speculation as to the decline or otherwise of Falklands penguin species, it is not scientifically credible to extrapolate data from one or more colonies to account for the entire population. This full census should provide a basis, once correlated with the data collected yearly by our Seabird Monitoring Programme, from which to fully predict demographic changes within the seabird populations.
King Penguins with Chick (Photo: R. White)
It is proposed to have three 2-person teams deployed around the Islands. One team will cover East Falkland, a second West Falkland, and the third team will cover the outlying islands using the Penelope. All relevant landowners have been approached to provide information on colonies on their land and permission to visit the colonies. Three counts will be made of all breeding pairs at each colony.
Updates on its progress and results from the census will be included in future Newsletters. In the meantime I'm sure you will all be pleased to hear that ex Conservation Officer, Jeremy Smith, will be turning to the Islands to lead the West Falkland team in November.
Penguin 2000
The Fourth International Penguin Conference
La Serena, Chile
Conservation Officer, Becky Ingham and Field Science Officer, Andrea Clausen of Falkland Conservation recently attended the above conference which took place between 4 -8 September. Also from the Falklands Conservation group were Andy Black of the Seabirds at Sea Team and Klemens Putz of the Antarctic Research Trust.
Sessions held covered Breeding Biology, Population Trends, Conservation and Captivity, ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation), Behaviour, Foraging Ecology, and Physiology and Energetics. A talk was presented by Andrea Clausen and Klemens Putz on "Recent trends in diet composition and productivity of Gentoo, Magellanic and Rockhopper penguins in the Falkland Islands". A poster entitled "Rockhopper x Macaroni hybrids apparently breeding in the Falkland Islands" was also presented by Richard White, Andrea Clausen and Simon Mahood. The Seabirds at Sea Team presented a poster titled "The dispersion of penguin species in the waters of the Falkland Islands." Klemens Putz presented a talk on "Winter foraging of King Penguins breeding in the Falkland Islands compared to breeding sites elsewhere."
Very useful contacts were made with other penguin researchers. It was particularly interesting to hear from Argentine researchers about the Southern Rockhopper populations on Staten Island, a census carded out last breeding season revealed that there were over 160,000 breeding pairs, considerably more than was estimated previously. For more information about the conference or any of the presentations made please call the office.
A National Herbarium for Falkland Islands
A herbarium is a simple tool - essentially just a collection of pressed plant specimens, collected and curated to high scientific standards - but also an incredibly useful one. The specimens in a herbarium form the botanical equivalent of a library providing a set of reference material which can be used as a training resource and to identify unknown plants. This year will see the establishment of a national herbarium in the Falkland Islands. This herbarium will have a strong scientific value and will also be useful for all sorts of people from the general public - how often have you found a plant you can't identify? - to the Department of Agriculture (DOA), Customs and Immigration, medical practitioners, veterinarians and conservationists.
The collection should eventually house examples of all species found growing wild in the Falkland Islands. The project is to be given an important start by Robin Woods who is keen to see the plant material that he has collected since 1995 returned to the Islands for appropriate storage & use, something for which he has received a Shackleton Fund scholarship. Robin will be in the Falkland Islands from 7th October until mid-December preparing and listing specimens for the herbarium and collecting new material to fill in some of the gaps. The project is being led by Falklands Conservation (of which Robin is a UK Trustee) with involvement from the DOA and the Darwin Initiative who sponsor David Broughton, who many of you will remember from last summer. David returned to the Islands last week to continue his botanical research.
Properly stored and maintained, herbarium specimens are capable of lasting for at least 100 years. Thus, this is an important project with the potential to provide long-term value. It will provide opportunities for Falkland Islanders to become self-sufficient in botanical expertise, something that is crucial I plant resources are to be identified and used in a sustainable manner and conserved for the future.
Beach Debris
Beach Debris in Christina Bay
The above image shows marine debris that was washed up in the Christina Bay area over the last couple of weeks. This is exactly the type of netting and ropes that wildlife gets tangled in usually leading to a slow and painful death. We encourage Islanders at every opportunity to remove such debris from the coastline and will be organising a beach clean-up in the future.
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Patron: HRH The Duke of York CVO ADC Member of the International Union for Conservation of Nature | BirdLife International Representative |