“When I started my marine biology career, I never imagined working with birds.”
Yuliana Bedolla studied corals and planned to dedicate herself to the underwater world.
But while working on islands in the Mexican Pacific, a passion was born that has driven her for more than a decade: protecting seabirds.
The scientist received this Wednesday one of the prestigious 2023 awards from the Whitley Foundation for Nature, Whitley Fund for Nature.
The foundation highlights “inspirational conservationists” each year from different regions who combine science with innovative work with local communities.
Bedolla, the only winner from Latin America, was awarded for protecting nesting colonies of nocturnal seabirds from invading mammals.
Extraordinary and fragile islands
The Mexican islands and the seas that surround them are crucial habitats for a third of the world’s seabirds.
“These small islands are home to an extraordinary amount of biodiversity, but they are incredibly fragile ecosystems,” says Bedolla, who is a project director for the Island Ecology and Conservation Group, an NGO dedicated to restoring the Mexican islands.
The Pacific islands off the Baja California peninsula are essential nesting sites for 23 species of seabirds, 11 of which are nocturnal during nesting.
“When they are in the breeding season, these birds come to the islands to have their only offspring, because they only raise one chick a year,” the biologist explains to BBC Mundo.
In his Whitley award acceptance speech, Bedolla described these birds as “mysterious” because of their stealthy habits.
“Both shearwaters and storm petrels, which are called petrels in the south, only return to the islands at night to avoid predators. The islands come to life at night during the nesting season for these birds.”
The shearwater does not migrate very far and can be seen for example in California, USA.
But the black petrel can migrate to the Gulf of Tehuantepec in Mexico, to Central America, to Peru or Ecuador. “We have an incredible connection with all of Latin America studying these birds.”
Natividad and West San Benito Islands, with small fishing populations, are home to more than a million nocturnal seabirds.
Natividad is home to 90% of the world population of the Mexican shearwater. And the San Benito archipelago is the most important colony for the black petrel.
underground nests
Both shearwaters and petrels dig nests underground, Bedolla explains.
“They dig tunnels that can sometimes be very long, more than one, two or three meters, and the entrance can be the entrance to several nests. It is impressive, ”she indicates.
“Not only do they nest in these underground nests, but they can also nest among rocks.
“We have to search all kinds of habitats on the islands to find the nests.”
Helicopters against rodents
After decades of conservation action, San Benito Oeste and Natividad are part of eight islands in the Pacific off Baja California that are now free of invasive mammals.
In the past, these species have arrived on the islands with the local inhabitants from goats and donkeys to cats.
But the biggest enemies of baby birds are rodents. And eradicating them is a battle without quarter.
The accidental introduction of an invasive mouse into West San Benito in 2006 was only countered after seven years and at a cost of more than $600,000.
And in 2019, a single black rat on Natividad Island, observed by a fisherman, took three months to catch.
“All the invasive species and predators unfortunately are brought to the islands by humans,” Bedolla says.
The rodents can arrive as stowaways in objects belonging to the fishermen themselves, who move their belongings from another nearby island, Cedro Island, depending on the fishing season.
“Fortunately, around 15 years ago the islands were free of those predators.”
The fishermen themselves alerted Bedolla and his colleagues in 2006 that they had seen some mice.
“In one or two years they were already distributed throughout the island.”
It was not until 2013 that Bedolla obtained the funds to combat rodents with the latest technology.
“We use state-of-the-art technology, since you have to use a helicopter with a bucket that is used, for example, to fumigate agricultural fields. Instead of that, they are used as croquettes in which there is a poison that is specific for rodents, which does not cause any harm to birds or other organisms that are there”, says Bedolla.
“And what we do is disperse the poison, covering the entire island at the same time, so that it reaches all the rodents.
“In addition, to find out that all the rodents had access to the poison, we followed some with radio collars to see if they actually ate it. And we continue to monitor for another three months to ensure that the entire island is free of this species.”
The conundrum of warming
Bedolla points out that climate change could also affect birds.
“These islands are precisely on the border between two currents, a warm current coming from the south and a cold current coming from the north.
“If the ocean were to get very warm, the warm current would take over and probably affect the food on which the birds depend.”
A good sign is that the birds seem to respond flexibly to these changes for now, according to the scientist.
“There were very, very hot years in 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016. And through what the birds eat we could see that the very hot years were feeding on more tropical species.
“But in much colder years they fed more on their more common prey. They have that ability to choose another type of food when the one they normally eat is not there.”
“I want to protect my island”
The Whitley Prize awards each winner more than $40,000.
Bedolla will use the funding to further her work with local women and fishermen. The aim is to involve them not only in the control of possible rodents but also in the monitoring of seabirds.
West San Benito Island has a population of about 50 people, while Natividad is home to about 300 people.
“For conservation to be successful, local communities must be empowered as stewards of their land and its resources,” says the scientist.
“In 2021 we made a call to action. We invite communities in the region to participate in a program to precisely prevent the introduction of invasive species, because we achieve that the islands are free of these species, but the most difficult job is to maintain this in the long term.
“Because these islands are populated, there is a constant risk that it will happen again.”
Bedolla and his colleagues made a video offering local communities the opportunity to train not only on invasive species but also on seabirds.
“And those who responded immediately were the local women, who contacted us and told us: ‘I want to be part of this, I know that my island is unique and I want to protect it.’
“The communities welcome you with open arms. In all the years that we have been working with them, which is practically 20 years, they always help us with everything. They give us lodging, they invite us to eat, the support is impressive”.
Bedolla and his colleagues also collaborate with muralists, musicians and sculptors to sensitize children through art to care for the environment.
“The nesting sites for the birds are practically behind their houses. We want to tell you that your islands are unique in the world and that these species are not found anywhere else. That if something happens on your island we will never see those birds again ”, she points out.
“We also give talks in schools. It always amazes me how the little ones are the ones who pay most attention to you, the ones who want to know the most. And through them we can reach their families”.
“I have seen it with my eyes”
Despite the serious biodiversity crisis on the planet, with more than a million species in danger of extinction according to the UN, Yuliana Bedolla has a r very concrete reason to maintain hope.
She has seen on the ground that conservation works.
“I think I am very lucky, because I have seen it with my own eyes”, she emphasizes.
“In this region we had lost [por especies invasoras] like around 27 colonies of seabirds.”
To recover them, Bedolla and other biologists did not just eliminate the invasive species.
“We also use social attraction techniques. I mean, we put up fake colonies, with sounds and some fake lures that resembled birds.
“Of the 27 colonies of birds that had been lost, or more, because that is what we had registered, 21 colonies have already returned to the islands.
“And not only that. The number of seabird species using these islands has increased from 19 ten years ago to 23 species. So if new species are arriving on the islands it is because it is a safe place. If they don’t feel safe, they don’t come or they don’t go”.
“So that gives a lot of hope, because there have been recent years when we arrived at the islands and we see a species that was not there 100 years ago, which now recognizes that the island is once again a safe place to return to nest,” he says.
“That gives me a lot of motivation to continue.
What would Yuliana Bedolla say to those who read this note?
“That they look for precisely this type of story in the world, because there are many projects like ours that are also obtaining good results and are discovering new species that were thought to be extinct.
“That means we still have hope that the species will recover.”
The other award-winning conservationists in addition to Yuliana Bedolla are:
–Tulshi Laxmi Suwalfrom Nepal, world expert on pangolinsthe most traded mammals in the world.
–Mamy Razafitsalamafrom Madagascar, for his work to reduce forest fires that threaten the critically endangered lemursextinction ethic
–Serge Alexis Kamgangof Cameroonfor his project to save the lions of the Bénoué ecosystem.
–alberto salemgareyevof kazakhstan,that seeks to resolve the water dispute between the Saiga antelope and local herders.
–Leonard Akwanyfrom Kenya, for his work to recoverr fish species in Lake Victorito.
-Special Whitley Gold Award to conservationist Shivani Bhalla, from Kenya, recognized for her work with communities to save lions.
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