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2017 Science Review 2017 SCIENCE REVIEW Reporting period January to December 2017 African painted dog (Lycaon pictus) CONTENTS Foreword .................................................................................................................4 Supported conservation and science projects ................................................... 5 Our year in highlights ............................................................................................ 6 Conservation & science news .............................................................................. 8 Biodiversity surveys and ecological monitoring .............................................. 12 Conservation breeding and management ......................................................... 16 Human-wildlife conflict/livelihoods and sustainable developments .............. 22 Visitor and community engagement .................................................................. 26 Wildlife health and wellbeing .............................................................................. 32 Science communication ......................................................................................36 One-year industrial placement students ...........................................................38 Chester Zoo conservation fellows......................................................................40 Chester Zoo conservation scholars ...................................................................40 Collaborating institutions.................................................................................... 42 Publications & conference presentations .........................................................44 Front cover: Masdevallia venusta is one of the species belonging to Chester Zoo's large collection of Pleurothallidinae orchids. 3 FOREWORD SUPPORTED CONSERVATION AND SCIENCE PROJECTS Welcome to our Science Review for 2017. enabled us to bring together our growing Our scientific programme is central to band of Conservation Scholars and our conservation and education work Fellows to showcase their work and debate OUR REGIONAL FIELD PROGRAMMES which is directed at preventing extinction the future priorities for conservation with Red circles = Number of field projects we lead and/or support in the region of species around the world. This task is a number of eminent speakers from more pressing than ever as we face what international conservation organisations. has been described as ‘the sixth mass This was an important element of our extinction’ which is the first one due to scholarship programme which aims to anthropogenic causes. Our scientific train the conservation practitioners of the UK & Europe activities are designed to maximise our future and prepare them for the challenges conservation impact through providing the ahead. Further details can be found on 5 evidence base for effective action. page 36. South Our scientific work is organised around A vital part of our efforts towards 6 Asia our six specialisms which are stated on preventing extinction involves working with the following page and in the pages of this people to inform, empower and inspire report you will find articles written by a wide positive behaviour change for a healthy Africa variety of people involved in developing environment. We draw on the social 16 these specialisms and delivering scientific sciences to underpin this work both in the South East Asia 24 projects at Chester Zoo. They include our zoo through research to inform our public Latin Applied and Conservation Science staff, engagement activities and in the field 12 America Madagascar & members of our Curatorial, Veterinary, through our carefully planned interventions 8 Mascarenes Field Programmes and Discovery and in communities living with wildlife. Learning teams and our Conservation Scholars and Fellows. We believe that Our scientific activity continues to for science to be relevant and effective in expand across all areas. In 2017 we led informing conservation management it has or facilitated 71 projects by providing We work with 85 field partners organisations' to be fully integrated into our work and our financial and/or technical support to our holistic approach to this is reflected in this partners. We also supported 49 research review. projects and provided biological samples to a further 22. A total of 70 projects were Communication of our scientific activities to conducted through our undergraduate RESEARCH WE SUPPORTED OUR SIX SPECIALISMS all areas of society is an important priority training scheme by students from 19 and in 2017 we appointed a Science and universities. Our staff, scholars and Conservation Communications Officer to fellows were authors or co-authors of 37 Undergraduate Students strengthen our team. Our participation peer reviewed papers during 2017 and 70 in an increasing number of science gave 78 presentations at national and Chester Zoo Conservation Scholars outreach events, together with our Wildlife international conferences and symposia. Biodiversity surveys and Conservation breeding (PhDs) ecological monitoring and management Connections festival and our symposia, Further details can be found towards the 23 reported on in the events section of this end of this review and on our website report on page 36 and 37, have served to chesterzoo.org/conservation. To keep up External PhD Students and raise awareness of our work and inspire to date with our scientific activities you can 48 research professionals the next generation of conservation also follow us on twitter @ScienceatCZ. scientists. One-year industrial placement students Human-wildlife conflict Livelihoods and sustainable A particular highlight of the year was the 7 development conference we co-hosted with the Natural Chester Zoo Conservation Fellows Environment Research Council in April (Postdocs) on the Future Direction of Conservation Dr Simon Dowell 3 Science. The conference was aimed Science Director at PhD students from two of the NERC From universities and colleges Doctoral Training Partnerships and 30 Visitor and community engagement Wildlife health and wellbeing 4 5 OUR YEAR IN HIGHLIGHTS JANUARY JULY Our expedition team headed to Ecuador to collect crucial data on the endangered Our conservationists presented their research at the International Congress for Ecuador Amazon parrot. The expedition’s objectives were to search for the Conservation Biology 2017 in Colombia and our one-year industrial placement elusive parrot’s nests, to collect data on their habitat, to conduct roost counts students all presented their research projects at the BIAZA Research but also to launch the pilot of our first community survey in the region. Conference in Edinburgh. AUGUST FEBRUARY • Conservationists from Chester Zoo gathered together fruit growers, netting experts A High-Performance Liquid Chromatography machine was installed in our and government officials in Mauritius for the first time in a joint effort to develop new science laboratory allowing us to develop a method to monitor the reproductive solutions to resolve conflict between farmers and crop raiding bats. health of our animals from faeces. • New research, published by our Conservation Scholar, Luiza Passos, assessed the differences in anti-predator behaviour between golden mantella frogs from the zoo and from the wild. MARCH SEPTEMBER • Phase 2 developments of our Nature Reserve progressed quickly with several • We grew Llangollen whitebeam trees, one of the rarest trees in the world, using south-facing banks, two ponds and a viewing platform created and a total of 450 seeds obtained from the Millennium Seedbank at Kew and we conducted a native tree saplings planted. comprehensive survey of the cliffs where the trees grow in the wild. • In Nepal, as part of our Living with Tigers project, the first season of camera trapping • We published a report highlighting the impact of volunteering in zoos. 19 in Bardia National Park resulted in the detection of tigers in over half of the 97 grid BIAZA collections took part in the research which revealed significant positive cells being studied and in addition, leopards were recorded in 22 grids. self-reported impacts. APRIL OCTOBER • Chester Zoo Conservation Fellow, Dr Tanja Maehr, began vital research into EEHV • Members of our Discovery and Learning team went to Indonesia to deliver a through a post-doctoral position that has been funded by our Never Forget campaign. two-day education and engagement workshop prior to the Indonesian Zoo • The ‘Future Directions in Conservation Science’ symposium brought together Association Conference. professionals and students to discuss current issues, explore new opportunities and • A documentary about the work we are conducting in Indonesia on songbirds identify the priorities for the next generation of conservation research. aired on BBC News Our World. MAY NOVEMBER • Conservation Scholar and Manchester University PhD student, Nick Harvey Conservation Fellow, Dr Ximena Velez-Liendo, was a winner of a prestigious was among the winners of The British Ecological Society’s annual photography Whitley Award for her work protecting threatened Andean bears in Bolivia. Our competition in the category Ecology in Action with his photo of a white rhino partner Indira Lacerna-Widmann was also a winner at the ceremony for her being translocated from a small reserve in South Africa. work on the rare Philippine cockatoos. • Our Wildlife Champions project reached a significant milestone with a total of 100 champions trained over
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