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March 2007

Penguins Marching Into the Classroom

View the newly launched preview of an educational DVD exploring the complexities of climate change through the lives and studies of Adélie penguins.

http://www.penguinscience.com/media.php

Expanded Project

Student Investigations of Albatross and Marine Debris

“Tracking Plastic Trash” funded by the Water Education Program of the City of Benicia, California

Laysan Albatross Chick with a regurgiated bolus - often containing squid beaks and plastic. The parents forage for food across the North Pacific Ocean and return to the breeding colony to feed their chick. (Photo: Irene Kinan)

Classrooom Activities Free to Download

Over 300 middle school students are using albatross tracking and marine debris data in student investigations. In 2007, the program expanded - 7th graders are compiling, summarizing, and graphing the data collected by the 6th graders.

The overall goals are to teach data collection, mapping, math skills, and to create interest in how personal choices we make in our everyday lives affect the health of the ocean.

Lessons include a lab activity to quantify the contents of a bolus - a mass of undigestable parts thrown up by albatross chicks, much like an owl pellet. Students will also map Algalita's ‘Garbage Patch’ data and the albatross tracks to identify possible plastic debris ‘hotspots’.

New Project

Isla Socorro, Revillagigedo Archipelago - The Last Stand for Townsend's Shearwaters

Townsend's Shearwaters (Puffinus auricularis) are a critically endangered seabird endemic to the Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico. The species has been extirpated from two islands in the archipelago with the entire world breeding population currently restricted to Isla Socorro.

In June 2007, Peter Hodum will travel to Isla Socorro to collaborate with Endémicos Insulares, a conservation organization in Mexico.

Degradation of habitat and predation by feral cats are the two major threats confronting their survival.

While on the island, he will lead efforts to conduct a breeding survey and develop a monitoring program to to assess population trends and responses to conservation efforts.

Revillagigedo Archipelago, Mexico. The eastern island is Isla Socorro, Spanish for "help", located at 18°48'N, 110°59'W

Project Updates

Firecrown Conservation on Juan Fernández Islands
Graduate Research, Citizen Science, Invasive Species, Collaborations

Erin Hagen, University of Washington, and Coral Wolf, University of Michigan, are leading an investigation of foraging behavior, breeding success, timing of breeding, and food availability of both hummingbird species on the Juan Fernández Islands - Juan Fernández and Green-backed Firecrowns (Sephaniodes fernandensis and S. sephaniodes). The local field team includes Daniela Bernal, Paola Gonzalez, Christian López, Scheila Recabarren, David de Rodt, and Sara de Rodt.

In addition to Maria Victoria López-Calleja's on-going population censuses, this season she began a new energetic study to assess the degree to which the unique perched feeding behavior of Juan Fernandez Firecrowns is an important energy-saving adaptation.

Collaborations:
Póntifica Universidad Católica
Cristian Estades (Universidad de Chile)
Guillermo Araya and Alfonso Andaur (Parque Nacional de Juan Fernández)
Aves Chile
Federico Johow (Aves Chile, CODEFF)
CONAF (Corporación Nacional Forestal)

Citizen Science

A citizen science program has been launched!

Taking advantage of the regular occurrence and high visibility of firecrowns in the town of San Juan Bautista, we have initiated a program to involve interested local residents in monitoring the firecrown population.

Throughout the year, volunteers will collect data on presence and relative abundance of firecrowns in their backyards and gardens and the plants on which they are feeding. Volunteers will also help control invasive plants species - maqui (Aristotelia chilensis) and blackberry (Rubus ulmifolius) in critical firecrown breeding habitat. Previous work shows that firecrowns quickly respond to, and utilize, areas cleared of invasive plants.

Photo: Ivan Goldswosthy (left) and park ranger Alfonso Andaur (right), two of the initial participants in the firecrown citizen science project. The two are standing in Ivan's backyard, where he is conducting his observations.