3873:STATUSAND CONSERVATION REQUIREMENTSOFMANXSHEARWATERS Puffinus Puffinus on TENERIFE (CANARY

3873:STATUSAND CONSERVATION REQUIREMENTSOFMANXSHEARWATERS Puffinus puffinus ON TENERIFE (CANARY

LAPALMA

CANARY ISLANDS

TENERIFE

LANZAROTE

ISLANDS)

StatutetexigencespourlaconservationduPuffin desAnglaisàTenerife(îlesCanaries).

TheManxShearwater Puffinus puffinusbreeds almostexclusivelyintheeasternNorth Atlantic islands.Itsbreedingpopulation exceeds350,000 pairsandthereisnoevidence tosuggestthatthe specieshasdeclinedoverall. Althoughbreeding rangeisbigger than50,000km2,morethan90%of thebreedingpopulationisconcentratedinarelative- lyfewsites(BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL,2004).Inthe Macaronesianarchipelagos(Azores,Madeiraandthe Canaries), estimations varied between 1,865 and

GOMERA HIERRO

10 km

GRANCANARIA

FUERTEVENTURA

TENERIFE

3,740 breeding pairs (BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL,

2004).CanaryIslands(27º37’-29º25’Nand13º20’-

18º19’W) constitute thesouthernextremity ofits breedingrange(HAMER,2003). Althoughinthis archipelago, theonlyconfirmedbreedingdatawere reported forLaPalmaand Tenerife islands(MARTÍN etal.,1989;HERNÁNDEZetal.,1990),itsbreedingis alsosuspected butnotproveninLaGomeraandEl Hierro islands (MARTÍN LORENZO,2001).The CanaryIslands Manx Shearwatersarealsothesmall- estinsizeofthevariouspopulations inEurope (ZONFRILLO etal.,2001).

IntheMacaronesian archipelagosthenestingbur- rowsofManxShearwater areusuallylocatedonthe edgeofcliffsandinaccessibleledgesofravineswith- inlaurelforesthabitat(MARTÍN LORENZO, 2001; ZONFRILLO etal.,2001).Thisforestismainlyinflu- encedbynorth-easterlyhumidtradewindsandthere- forelocatedinthe north-facingslope.Duetonoctur- nalbehaviourattheircoloniesandtheoftensteep andinaccessible breedinghabitattheyoccupy(at least in the Macaronesian archipelagos), its true range andpopulation sizeislargely unknown (CRAMP,1998; HAMER,2003).

WehereupdatethestatusofManxShearwater in Tenerife Island(thelargestoftheCanarian archipel- ago)anditsconservation statusbasedon‘listening stations’. Wealsopresentdatafromcollectedand rescuedbirdsbyCentrodeRecuperación deFauna SilvestredeTenerife“LaTahonilla” (Cabildode Tenerife,onwardsCRFS-“LaTahonilla”).

Listening stationsweresituatedin27siteswithhis- toricalpublished dataonthepresenceofthespecies or inpotentialbreedinghabitat(MARTÍN LORENZO,

2001;pers.obs.FIG.1).DuringtheperiodMarchto

June2006,wesetupatleastonelisteningstationin

FIG.1.–Locations ofthenocturnal surveysin Tenerife Island(n=27).Opencirclesrepresent localitieswheretheManxShearwaterPuffinuspuffi- nuswasdetected; filledcircles,localities without successduring thelisteningstations.

Localisation desrelevésnocturnessurl’îlede Tenerife(n=27).Lescerclesévidéssignalent la présencedel’espèce;lescerclespleinsl’absencede donnéessurlesstationsd’écoute.

eachselected site. Thefirstcallsofthespeciesat nightstartapproximately onehouraftersunset (CÂMARA,2001;pers.obs.),therefore,afterthistime, werecordedthenumberofshearwater callsintoten minuteperiodsduringtwohours.Becausemoonlight affectsProcellariiformes activity(IMBER,1975; BRETAGNOLLE, 1990;CRAMP,1998;LECORRE etal.,

2002;pers.obs.),moonless nightswereselectedfor nocturnalsurveys.Furthermore, datafromCRFS- “LaTahonilla” onthenumbers, ageandlocalitiesof light-attractedbirds,wereusedtoevaluate thestatus anddistributionofthespecies.

A totalof58hoursoflisteningwasundertaken,one ofthemostintensive effortmadeintheCanaries to determine breedingsitesandthepopulation sizeof thisshearwater. Thenumberofvocalizationswas alwaysverylow(lessthantwoindividuals atthe sametime).Weonlydetectbirdsinfourplaceslocat- edintheTenomassif(northwest partoftheisland, FIG.1),one ofthemcorrespondedwiththe onlycon- firmedbreeding siteontheentireisland,discovered in1989byHERNÁNDEZetal.(1990).Theseauthors foundfouroccupiedburrowsandasignsofpredation byratsinanotherthree.

FrominformationreportedbyCRFS-“LaTahonilla”, andourunpublisheddata,intheperiod1998-2006a

minimum of23birdsweredazzledbycommunity lightingandgrounded inTenerife(seeTABLE I). Despitethe higherlightpollutionconcentratedinthe southoftheisland(location ofthecapitalandmain touristcities),74%ofdazzledbirds(n=17)were foundinthenorthfacing slope. However,30%of dazzledbirds(n=7)werefoundinthelargesttourist municipality(PuertodeLaCruz)onthenorthcoast. Thesedatasupportthenegativeeffectoflightpollu- tionasreportedinProcellariiformes(IMBER, 1975; REEDetal.,1985;ZONFRILLO etal.,2001;LECORRE etal.,2002).Fledglings weremainlydazzledand groundedbetween15th Julyand13th August(Mean± SD=25thJuly±9.6days;FIG.2).Thisagreeswith thefledging datereported byMARTÍN LORENZO (2001).Furthermore,itcoincideswithmanypopular celebrations, inwhichlightpollutionincreases,and includesfireworks,fairgroundsandadditional deco- rative street lighting.

Anecdotalaccountsofthespeciesinthepast(see MARTÍN LORENZO,2001),suggestdistribution rangeandpopulation sizehassufferedanotable recentreduction onTenerife. Likein other Procellariiformes, multiplefactorscouldbe involvedinthisreduction, suchasthepresenceof introduced predators(ratsand cats)nearthe colonies (MOORS ATKINSON, 1984; BROOKE,

1990;HAMER,2003),ortheincreaseoflightpollu- tion(IMBER,1975;REED etal.,1985;LE CORRE et al.,2002).Changesinfeedingresourcesinpotential foraging areas at sea as at the Saharan Bank (BAILLIE et al., 2004; CAMPHUYSEN VAN DER MEER,2005)mayalsohaveaneffect.

Resultsofthesepreliminarynocturnalsurveysand thelownumberofdazzledjuveniles byartificial lights clearly indicate that current population of ManxShearwater inTenerifeisverysmallanda notable contraction ofitsrangecouldalsobe inferred.Althoughanabundantseabirdinnorthern Europe(BIRDLIFE INTERNATIONAL,2004),conserva-

12 Number of groundedbirds

Fledglings

Adults

1 2 34 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Months

FIG.2.–AnnualdistributionofthedazzledManx ShearwatersPuffinuspuffinusinTenerife,Canary Islands(1998–2006).Pooled dataofCentrode Recuperaciónde FaunaSilvestre“LaTahonilla” (Cabildo deTenerife)andpersonal data.1isfor January,12forDecember.

RépartitionannuelledesdonnéesdePuffinsdes

Anglais(jeunesetadultes)entrele1erjanvieretle

12décembre,de1998à2006.

tionofitsmarginalcoloniesisimportant because geneticdivergencemayoperatewithin these popula- tionsasconsequenceofisolation(seeGÓMEZ-DÍAZ et al.,2006forCalonectrisdiomedea).

Foragingstrategiesusingtelemetry,perhapsattached torescued birdswhenreleased, dietary studies, effectsofalienpredators andmethodsoflimiting light pollutioninpubliclightingrequireurgent study tounderstand andconservethissmallpopulation before itistotally exterminated.

TABLE I.– IndividualsofManxShearwater(Puffinuspuffinus)collectedinTenerifeIslandbythepersonnelofthe

Centro deRecuperacióndeFauna Silvestre“LaTahonilla”(CabildodeTenerife) andourowndata.

Puffindes Anglais(jeunesetadultes)collectésparlepersonnelduCentredesauvetage“LaTahonilla”etdonnées personnelles.

AGE / YEARS / TOTAL
199819992000200120022003200420052006
Fledglings
Adults / 220201102
111122212 / 10
13

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

RutMARTÍNEZ,AurelioACEVEDO,JoaquínVIZCAÍNO, JuanP.CASTRO,Miguel FERNÁNDEZDELCASTILLO, Daniela VALENTINOVA,RubénFUENTES,Marta GONZÁLEZ, SergioGONZÁLEZ, JoséL.HERRERA,Benito GONZÁLEZ,Nereida HERRERA, VanessaREYES, Candelaria RODRÍGUEZ,María C.MARTÍN,Beatriz PINEDO,AcoránHERNÁNDEZ,DemelzaFELIPEJuanC. ADAMhelpedinthenocturnalsurveys. Specialthanksto staffofCentrodeRecuperacióndeFaunaSilvestre“La Tahonilla”-CabildodeTenerife),whoprovideduswith dataofdazzledbirds,andalltheanonymous persons whokindlyhelpedinrescuing thebirds.ThankstoDr. BernardZONFRILLOforcommentonearlydraftsofthis manuscript.

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Airam RODRÍGUEZ(1),BeneharoRODRÍGUEZ,

Rubén BARONE,BernardinoPÉREZ AbrahamHERNÁNDEZ (1)EstaciónBiológicadeDoñana(CSIC),PabellóndelPerú, Avda.María Luisa S/N,41013Séville,Spain.

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