Backing Campaign to Save Rare Seabird
22 September 2010
Dr Graham Rowe in the laboratory
It is important from a biodiversity perspective that we do everything we can to protect such species...
”Dr Graham Rowe
A Henderson Petrel, copyright of Alve Henricson.
A University of Derby scientist who helped identify a rare species of seabird has backed an urgent appeal from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to help save it from extinction.
Dr Graham Rowe was part of the academic research team that discovered the rare Henderson Petrel Pterodroma atrata several years ago on Henderson Island - but its future survival is being threatened by rats which were introduced to the island by the Polynesians.
The seabird breeds on the tiny uninhabited Henderson Island - one of the Pitcairn Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. The island is 37 square km in size, and is a UK overseas territory and a World Heritage Site.
The RSPB needs to raise £1.7m by the end of the month to launch a rat eradication programme on the island to safeguard Henderson Petrel eggs and chicks. The campaign has the backing of Sir David Attenborough.
Dr Rowe, a Senior Lecturer in Biological Sciences at the University of Derby, was part of a team led by Dr Michael Brooke from the University of Cambridge, who used plumage colouration, body measurements, mating behaviour and DNA sequences to help identify the endangered seabird.
Initially it was thought the Henderson Petrel was part of a different, more widespread species called the Herald Petrel, which also inhabited other islands, until Dr Brooke's academic team's extensive research concluded it was a distinct species.
Their academic paper, 'Behavioural and molecular evidence for specific status of light and dark morphs of the Herald Petrel Pterodroma heraldica' was published in 1996.
Dr Rowe said: "I am pleased to support this campaign and hope that the RSPB can find the funds needed to succeed.
"It is important from a biodiversity perspective that we do everything we can to protect such species, restore the habitats they live in, mitigate the obstacles to migration and control other factors that might endanger them."
The Henderson Petrel is listed as endangered on the IUCN Red List where the World Conservation Union lists species most at risk of global extinction.
It also features on the Convention of Migration Species of Wild Animals. Set up as part of the United Nations Environment Programme, the Convention is concerned with the conservation of wildlife and habitats on a global scale.
The RSPB hope to carry out the rat eradication programme in August 2011 - saving thousands of petrel chicks in the process.
RSPB Henderson Island Project Co-ordinator Jonathan Hall welcomed Dr Rowe's support and said: "We need to raise the required funds by the end of September, or the project will have to be postponed.
"The conservation benefits would be enormous - the Henderson Petrel saved from its slide towards extinction, a globally significant island restored and at least ten unique species safeguarded for future generations."
Meanwhile, Dr Rowe and one of his undergraduate students at Derby, Jane Petts, are currently researching a conservation-based project looking at geographical variation in other Pterodroma petrel species.
The research aims to highlight other species where DNA sequencing techniques might help identify more previously unrecognised Pterodroma petrels.
To support the RSPB campaign visit: www.rspb.org.uk/hendersonisland
