Tristan da Cunha Darwin Initiative Project

QuickTime™ and a Photo - JPEG decompressor are needed to see this picture. Newsletter June 2005

Tristan Island Government

Tristan da Cunha lies in the Two seasons of fieldwork have now been carried out on centre of the south Atlantic and is Tristan, with the aim of establishing baseline information that the most remote inhabited island will enable long-term monitoring of the wildlife of the islands. in the world. A project funded The initial focus of the project was on the main island of Tris- by the Darwin Initiative, ʻEm- tan da Cunha and the neighbouring island of Nightingale, in powering the People of Tristan da particular mapping the habitats at all altitudes. Many of the Cunha to implement the CBDʼ, has plant are endemic, however alien species, that were been in progress since June 2003. once confined to the coastal plain, are spreading to new areas.

The Team The overall aim of the project One of the main aims of the project was to involve at least is to involve the people of Tristan da 10 Tristanians in the fieldwork, providing training and equip- Cunha in producing a Biodiversity ment so that they would be able to carry out annual moni- Action Plan for the islands, although toring and other survey work after the project had finished. it is recognised that the small com- Over the course of two field seasons, eleven Tristan islanders munity on Tristan will need help to were able to work with the project – James Glass, Norman Glass, Simon carry this work forward, in particu- Glass, Trevor Glass, Warren Glass, Jeremy Green, Matthew Green, lar from the UK and South . Rodney Green, Eugene Repetto, Frank Swain, and Wayne Swain

The Tristan peak (6,800ft) with endemic bog ferns Blechnum palmiforme) and the alien Eight members of the Tristan project team on , with grass Holcus lanatus project manager Alison Rothwell Yellow-nosed Monitoring The the school teachers Jim Kerr and Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross Richard Grundy, who were helped (known locally as the molly) is en- by the older children of the school. demic to the Tristan islands, and is the Several of the now most numerous of nesting at the site were ringed there the three albatross in the period 1984 to 1991. One species on Tristan. adult found nesting there in 2004 In order to monitor had been nesting at almost the same the population of this spot in 1984, and three chicks ringed species, five study in 1990 and 1991 are now back at plots have been es- the colony as breeding adults. tablished – three on Nightingale and two Three albatrosses were fit- on Tristan – with ted with GPS loggers, which will between 25-45 pairs track the movements of the , in each. Four of the and will be recovered in October monitoring plots Simon Glass and Matthew Green ringing 2005. The data will give an indi- an adult Atlantic yellow-nosed albatross were set up during the 2003 and cation of the main feeding areas 2004 summer seasons, but the for this species, and thus those one on the Tristan mountain, by areas where it is important to con- Hottentot Gulch, had been estab- trol fishing activities that could lished in the 1980s. The moni- endanger the albatross population. toring was done at this time by

Nightingale Island

Early on in the project it was of albatrosses have been established. recognised that the biodiversity of One of the main conservation Nightingale Island was important issues is the presence of alien plants both in global terms and an impor- on Nightingale, and in particular tant resource for the Tristan com- those that threaten to take over the munity. A separate project was set native vegetation. The equipment up in January 2004 and funding ob- used in November 2004 for clear- tained from the Overseas Territories ing paths was then used in March Environment Program to produce 05 to clear invasive flax plants a management plan for the island. from Nightingale, which had es- Fieldworkers who were trained tablished on the higher ground. A with the Tristan Darwin Initia- similar project had been carried tive project have been working on out on neighbouring Inaccessible Nightingale, carrying out fieldwork. island in September 2004, and it is now hoped that both islands are One of the first tasks was to now clear of flax, although it will clear paths through the dense tussock require frequent follow-up visits grass to give easier access to the in- to ensure that they remain clear. terior of the island, in particular the Jeremy Green clearing the road to the ponds area where monitoring plots ponds on Nightingale Tristan and Nightingale Marine Survey

Although the economy of A comprehensive collec- the Tristan islands is based almost tion of seaweeds has been entirely on the marine life, it is established on Tristan with surprisingly little studied. There a duplicate collection given is no other warm temperate island to the University of Cape group as remote and isolated as Town for analysis, including Tristan, and the arrival of new DNA sequencing. Results species has been a rare event are already coming in from – diversity is extremely low com- this research, which seems pared to mainland coasts in the likely to produce some defini- same temperature range. As on tive answers on the affinities land, species arriving here have of Tristanʼs seaweed flora, Five-finger Acantholatris monodactylus in subsequently evolved in isola- and whether species originally kelp forest tion, so that a large proportion thought to be Tristan ʻendemicsʼ of them are apparently endemic. are really confined to Tristan.

Sue Scott, a seaweed expert Much of the other ma- from the UK, volunteered to rine life recorded and photo- work with Paul Tyler, the project graphed has yet to be identi- fieldworker, to carry out dives fied. Two species of Tuni- and intertidal surveys on Tristan cates (sea squirts) and one and Nightingale in order to col- soft coral were found, neither lect seaweed specimens and as of which has been recorded in much information as possible on Tristan waters before. Spe- other marine life. The pair man- cies of starfish and seafans aged nineteen dives on Tristan were found that also appear to and two dives on Nightingale, as be new to Tristan, and a rare- Unidentified cushion star at the edge of the well as intertidal surveys at 5 sites ly seen fish species Medosoma drop off at 40m on Tristan and 3 on Nightingale. lineatum was photographed.

Invertebrate Survey Invertebrates were collected to be listed for any of the Tristan One of the key proposals from 23 sites at 8 different places Islands is a species from the order for the Tristan Darwin Initiative on Tristan, and 10 sites in the two Dermaptera (earwigs). Also appar- project was to establish a terres- main regions on Nightingale. This ent were a number of species from trial invertebrate collection, and a has resulted in a substantial inverte- the order Hymenoptera (wasps), in- South African entomologist Chris- brate collection, most of which has cluding a braconid type wasp found tine Hanel was employed by the been preserved using wet methods. at Nightingale, and a yellow and project to train the Tristan team in The bulk of these specimens need black striped wasp found on Tristan. invertebrate sampling techniques to be positively identified – the and make a start on a reference majority are thought to be species Many of the invertebrate spe- collection. Members of the Tris- that are known to occur on the cies in the collection are alien pests tan community helped out by col- islands, but there are a number of – probably introduced with fresh lecting reporting specimen finds, species not previously recorded foodstuff or fodder. This and various methods were used from any of the Tristan Islands. highlights the main threat to the na- to collect samples from different tive wildlife of Tristan – that of com- habitats on Tristan and Nightingale. Amongst those not known petition with . Gough Island

Although the emphasis of the in the south Atlantic, and chicks project fieldwork was on Tristan and are dying at the nesting grounds Nightingale, the team were asked to as a result of mice predation. help with the monitoring of the Tristan albatross on Gough Island, The Tristan albatross one of the Tristan islands although it only breeds once every two is 250 miles to the south of Tristan. years, so the counts for 2005 This was a unique opportunity for were compared back to a com- a Tristan team to be involved with plete survey in 2001. This Darwin team on the summit of Edinburgh survey work on Gough, indeed shows that there has been a Peak only one of the team had ever vis- substantial decrease in the ited Gough before, so in late Janu- numbers of breeding pairs be- ary 05 nine members of the team tween the two breeding seasons. left for a five day trip to Gough. The Tristan team were Bad weather hindered the able to spend some time ring- survey, but counts were possible ing birds and checking ring at several of the key nesting areas numbers. One was found for the Tristan albatross (a type to have had a ring put on by of ). The this Australian bird ringers, and species is unique to Tristan, and is was possibly caught whilst Ringing Tristan albatross in rapid decline as adults birds are feeding in Australian waters. being killed during long-line fishing Rockhopper Penguin

The only penguin species and these are relatively easy to 2004. Comparisons with previous breeding in the Tristan islands is count the numbers of incubat- counts suggest that the colonies the rockhopper, and it is found on ing adults. On Nightingale, the on Tristan doing well. However, all the main islands in the group. numbers are much higher and it is unlikely that this represents Global numbers of this species are the birds nest in dense tussock a general trend for all the Tristan in decline, and there is evidence grass, so it was only possible to islands, as penguin eggs were col- to suggest that numbers of breed- map the extent of the colonies. It lected on Tristan until 1992, and ing rockhopper penguins on the is assumed that any contraction any increase since then could be Tristan islands are also declining. in the range of the penguins will a result of the colonies recovering suggest a decline in the numbers after the cessation of harvesting. The project aimed to establish of breeding birds in the colony. Initial results from repeat counts an annual monitoring program for on Inaccessible and Gough sug- this species on Tristan and Night- A full count of incubating gest that in fact the overall popu- ingale. The smallest and most penguins was carried out at lation of rockhopper penguins on surveyed colonies are on Tristan, the Tristan colonies in October Tristan is declining significantly. UK Workshop It would be impossible for the Tristan community to carry out all the recommendations in the Bio- diversity Action Plan (BAP) without considerable outside help, particularly from the UK and other UK overseas territories. To identify ways in which UK agencies can inform and assist the Tristan Government to forward the plan, a workshop was held in Bedfordshire in July 04. This brought together representatives from relevant agencies and organisations in the UK and UK territories, and other interested individuals, to discuss issues that the BAP must address and identify ways of implementing it. Organisations represented at the workshop were RSPB, UKOTCF, JNCC, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, BAS, DEFRA, FCO, Falklands conservation. The policeman and conservation officer, Conrad Glass represented the Tristan government.

For further details on the project contact [email protected]