Tawharanui predator proof fence
PRC recently returned from presenting at the Island Invasives Conference in Auckland, New Zealand in February 2010. The focus of the conference was on the ecological, social and economic impacts of invasive species on island ecosystems with a focus on techniques used to remove invasive species from island ecosystems. As part of the conference, we visited various predator-proof fences throughout New Zealand as well as several offshore island predator-free sanctuaries to learn more about the techniques used in New Zealand and how we can apply them in Hawaii.
The recent paper by Lindsay and her co-authors on the foraging patterns and plastic ingestion rates of Laysan albatross on Oahu and Kure Atoll (pdf 67) was written up by multiple media outlets including the Discovery Channel (http://news.discovery.com/animals/albatross-plastic-garbage-patch.html), scientific American (http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=plastic-plastic-everywhere-nor-any-2009-10-27) and a radio interview on national public radio (http://www.cbc.ca/quirks/archives/09-10/qq-2009-11-07.html). We found that by following birds at sea with miniaturized tracking devices and analyzing their stomach contents, that birds from Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands ingested ten times the amount of plastic compared to birds on Oahu, primarily because birds from Kure spent more time over Asian waters which contained more plastic.
General, News | Lindsay | 
February 24, 2010 1:45 pm | 
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