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Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria rostrata population decline at a nickel-mining site: a critical need for adapted conservation strategies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 April 2021

ANGÉLIQUE PAGENAUD Open the ORCID record for ANGÉLIQUE PAGENAUD [Opens in a new window] ,
KAREN BOURGEOIS ,
SYLVAIN DROMZÉE ,
MARTIN THIBAULT ,
GUILLAUME CHAGNEAU ,
NICOLAS BARRÉ ,
ÉLODIE BOUYÉ ,
VINCENT CHARTENDRAULT ,
NICOLAS DELELIS  and
JULIEN DIJOUX
...Show all authors
ANGÉLIQUE PAGENAUD*
Affiliation:
UMR ENTROPIE, IRD, IFREMER, CNRS, University of Reunion, University of New Caledonia, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia. Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, University of Avignon, IMBE, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
KAREN BOURGEOIS
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, University of Avignon, IMBE, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
SYLVAIN DROMZÉE
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, University of Avignon, IMBE, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
MARTIN THIBAULT
Affiliation:
UMR ENTROPIE, IRD, IFREMER, CNRS, University of Reunion, University of New Caledonia, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
GUILLAUME CHAGNEAU
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, University of Avignon, IMBE, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
NICOLAS BARRÉ
Affiliation:
IAC - Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien, Port-Laguerre, BP73, 98890 Païta, New Caledonia.
ÉLODIE BOUYÉ
Affiliation:
KONIAMBO NICKEL SAS, Route Territoriale 1, Site de Vavouto - 98833 Voh, BP 679- 98860 Koné, New Caledonia.
VINCENT CHARTENDRAULT
Affiliation:
LPO Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, délégation territoriale Drôme-Ardèche, 18 place Génissieu, 26120 Chabeuil, France.
NICOLAS DELELIS
Affiliation:
IAC - Institut Agronomique néo-Calédonien, Port-Laguerre, BP73, 98890 Païta, New Caledonia.
JULIEN DIJOUX
Affiliation:
Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, University of Avignon, IMBE, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
MAGALIE PATROIS
Affiliation:
KONIAMBO NICKEL SAS, Route Territoriale 1, Site de Vavouto - 98833 Voh, BP 679- 98860 Koné, New Caledonia.
JÉRÔME SPAGGIARI
Affiliation:
SCO - Société Calédonienne d’Ornithologie - BP 13641, 98803, Nouméa cedex, New Caledonia.
ÉRIC VIDAL
Affiliation:
UMR ENTROPIE, IRD, IFREMER, CNRS, University of Reunion, University of New Caledonia, BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia. Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, IRD, University of Avignon, IMBE, Centre IRD Nouméa - BP A5, 98848 Nouméa Cedex, New Caledonia.
*
*Author for correspondence; email: angelique.pagenaud@ird.fr
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Summary

New Caledonia hosts a large part of the world’s breeding population of the Tahiti Petrel Pseudobulweria rostrata. This rare, cryptic and little-studied seabird nests locally in the mountains up to 1,200 m in altitude, particularly in ultramafic (i.e. nickel-rich) areas where mining activity is a major threat. The considerable development of mining activities in New Caledonia over the past decade raises concerns about its potential impacts on breeding populations through both direct habitat destruction and side effects such as pollution or repeated disturbances. This context calls for a dedicated assessment of the persistence of local populations to guide the design of an adapted conservation strategy and potential restoration programmes. We investigated the impact of mining activities on a Tahiti Petrel population when surveyed pre-mining (2004–2007) and following a period of full mining (2017–2018). The vocal activity was assessed at a total of 114 night-call count stations spread over the Koniambo massif. Areas with ground-originated vocal activity were then searched during daytime for nesting evidence. Finally, georeferenced aerial photos were used to estimate habitat degradation as the percentage of bare soil cover (PBSC) within a 400-m radius around each call count station. Our study revealed a dramatic decline in the Tahiti Petrel vocal activity and a desertion of breeding habitats during the full-mining period compared to the pre-mining period. In light of these results, we recommend designing safe breeding areas and combining restoration methods including social attraction, predation control and artificial burrows at mining sites.

Keywords

mining sitePseudobulweria rostratavocal activityrestoration
Type
Research Article
Information
Bird Conservation International , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , June 2022 , pp. 246 - 258
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of BirdLife International

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