Hope for Haiti's Montane Forests

A VCE team led by Chris Rimmer, Juan Carlos Martinez-Sanchez and long-time Cornell Lab colleague Jim Goetz descended yesterday to Port-au-Prince, Haiti from the mountains in La Visite National Park.  There we were joined by 3 biologists from Societe Audubon Haiti and 3 student trainees from the local Universite Quisqueya.  Our primary goal was to revisit two remnant patches of broadleaf cloud forest that we had surveyed in 2005, and to re-evaluate their conservation status.  Eight years earlier, our field work had painted a grim picture, as both sites suffered from unchecked local subsistence agriculture and wood extraction.  We hoped the tables might now be turning, with recent international focus on Haiti's precarious ecological future and our collaborative effort with Jim to develop incentive mechanisms for local residents.

The past four days of intensive mist-netting and banding, point counts and careful observations yielded a mixed outlook for these two forest patches.  On the hopeful side, both remnants persist and have lost less broadleaf habitat than we feared.  However, both patches continue to steadily lose ground, as local farmers cut, clear and cultivate.  At our lower (and larger) site, Berak, even more striking than the unabated decrease of forest cover was dramatic erosion caused by storms like Hurricane Sandy, whose torrential rains from the deforested slopes above had slashed 10 foot wide and deep gashes through Berak's steep ravine.  At current rates of forest loss and erosion, the ecological integrity of these two tracts will soon exceed a tipping point.  Immediate changes in local land use practices are the only hope that these cloud forests and their unique biological diversity can survive, let alone expand.

Surprisingly, our mist-netting did not reveal dramatic overall declines in resident birds and overwintering migrants using the two forest patches.  We captured 65 individuals at the upper elevation (2000 m) site, La Visite, with 16 Green-tailed Ground Tanagers (8 in 2005) and 8 Black-throated Blue Warblers (2 in 2005) the two most abundant species in our nets.  We found and managed to capture a single Bicknell's Thrush that was calling from a tiny broadleaf patch (2 birds occupied the site in 2005).  Of real concern was the near absence of two rare and highly vulnerable cloud forest endemics, La Selle Thrush and Western Chat-Tanager.   We detected only a single vocalizing individual of each species at the La Visite site, and we netted none.  In 2005, we had 5 La Selle Thrushes (2 netted) and 8 Chat-Tanagers (none netted).  It seems that true forest specialists like these may be the first to disappear when patch size and vegetation structure become compromised.

At Berak, which features a more extensive, diverse and well-developed wet forest at 1200 m elevation, we mist-netted 78 birds.   Green-tailed Ground-Tanager again was the most abundant species, with 12 individuals banded (21 in 2005), followed by  9 Hispaniolan Emeralds (7 in 2005) and 6 Hispaniolan Spindalis (4 in 2005).  Among migrants, 7 Ovenbirds (11 banded in 2005) and 6 Black-throated Blue Warblers (10 in 2005) were our most common captures.  Highlights included single Sharp-shinned Hawks, Loggerhead Kingbirds and Swainson's Warblers.  Most remarkable were recaptures of 3 individuals that we had banded in 2005 - 2 Narrow-billed Todies and a Western Chat-Tanager!  These parallel our long-term banding results from the DR's Siera de Bahoruco, which also show pronounced longevity and site fidelity of resident birds.  A surprising and disconcerting discovery was the complete absence of Bicknell's Thrush at Berak.  In 2005, we had detected 8 birds there, netting 6 of these.  On this trip, we surveyed the entire forest patch with playbacks during two dawns and a single dusk period, without a single response.  After 20 years studying this species on Hispaniola, we know that wintering birds, which hold discrete territories, respond to playbacks, so  I'm confident there were no Bicknell's Thrush at Berak during our three days there.  Equally troubling was the drop in La Selle Thrush and Western Chat-Tanager numbers - in 2005 we detected 5 thrushes (1 netted) and 14 Chat-Tanagers (8 netted).  This trip: no La Selle Thrush and only 3 Chat-Tanagers heard or seen (though we netted 4).  Again, loss of forest structure and integrity seems a likely culprit. 

Despite disturbing signs, we left the mountains with a solid measure of optimism.  Jim Goetz is enlisting local farmers in a Payments for Ecosystems Services program, which provides incentives to allow forest recovery.  Our local partner, Fondation Seguin, is strongly committed to working with Jim and VCE for the long-term conservation of a core ecological reserve surrounding these two forest patches.  And, the young Haitians with whom we worked are passionate and eager to make a difference.  They are the future of conservation in this country - their dedication and sense of purpose must carry the day.


For information about VCE's 2005 trip to La Visite National Park, see our 2010 paper in the Journal of Caribbean Ornithology 23:31-43


   

Insecticides in U.S. important in grassland bird declines

A new study has found that insecticide use in the U.S. is linked more closely to the steep, widespread declines of grassland birds than the land use changes typically perceived as the culprits. For decades, grassland bird populations have been plummeting, and changes in agricultural practices - such as conversion of grasslands to row crops and more frequent haying - are cited as the primary reason for these trends.

But toxicologists Pierre Mineau and Melanie Whiteside make the case that grassland bird declines are also the work of more insidious impacts from insecticide applications. The title of the paper says it all: "Pesticide acute toxicity is a better correlate of U.S. grassland bird declines than agricultural intensification."

VCE's Grasslands Program is addressing threats that take place throughout the lifespan of grassland birds. In South America where some grassland birds overwinter, pesticide use is a known concern. With this study, pesticides will now be brought into the forefront of discussions about conservation solutions in North America.

Read paper about the contribution of pesticides to declines in grassland bird populations. 

Vermont Atlas of Life Monthly Contest

Many of you are on the hunt for the prizes for naturalist of the year announced in our last post at the Vermont Atlas of Life. Now, by popular demand, we're starting a monthly photo-observation contest here at the Vermont Atlas of Life. We'll choose four photos from observations each month and post them here. Photo observations will be chosen on artistic, scientific and overall "wow" impact. It might be a beautiful shot, an amazing sighting captured, a neat behavior, or whatever catches the editors eye. We'll ask for a volunteer editor each month to select the four finalists. Next month's editor is Kyle Jones. Let us know if you'd like to be the editor for March. To vote, you simply write a comment for the one you like most. The photograph with the most votes wins.

Join the Vermont Atlas of Life and vote for January selections! Voting closes in one week. 

Vermont Naturalists of the Year: Let the Contest Begin!

From drop of the ball on January 1 to the twinkle of stars on December 31, hundreds of naturalists are scouring fields and fens, mountains and meadows, lakes and lawns to discover as many species in as many Vermont places as possible in 2013. Thanks to one of our project partners, Northern Woodlands, the top Vermont naturalists in 2013 will earn a subscription to their informative magazine. The naturalists that discover and report the most species, record the most observations, or help others identify the most species on the project will be crowned at the end of 2013. Only one prize per person, so three naturalists will be honored. The observations have to be from 2013, so get out there and explore, discover, and share with the Vermont Atlas of Life!

Rusty Patched Bumble Bee Threatened with Extinction

The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation filed a petition today with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service seeking Endangered Species Act protection for the rusty patched bumble bee. This animal was once very common from the Upper Midwest to the East Coast (including Vermont) and was an important pollinator of crops and wildflowers. Recently it has undergone a precipitous decline.

Historically known from more than twenty-five states, a recent study estimates that the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) has disappeared from 87 percent of its historic range. Where it is still found, this bee is much less abundant than it was in the past.

“The charismatic and once common rusty patched bumble bee has suffered severe and widespread declines throughout its range in the eastern U.S. since 1997,” said Dr. Robbin Thorp, professor emeritus of the University of California – Davis. Dr. Thorp is a nationally recognized expert on bumble bees and coauthor of the petition. “The few scattered recent sightings thanks to intensive searches are encouraging, but the species is in critical need of federal protection.”

The cause of the rusty patched bumble bee’s decline has not yet been fully determined. However, in related bumble bees that also are declining, researchers at the University of Illinois have recently found higher levels of a fungal pathogen and lower levels of genetic diversity. Notably, the rusty patched bumble bee was too scarce in the landscape to be included in these analyses.

The leading hypothesis suggests that this fungal pathogen was introduced from Europe by the commercial bumble bee industry in the early 1990s, and then spread to wild pollinators. Although it has not been proven, the hypothesis is supported by the timing, speed and severity of the decline—a crash in laboratory populations of bumble bees occurred shortly before researchers noticed a number of species of formerly common bumble bees disappearing from the wild.

“The remaining populations of the rusty patched bumble bee are small and isolated, and continue to be threatened by diseases from a largely unregulated commercial bumble bee industry, as well as by disease from other sources, habitat degradation, pesticide use and climate change,” said Sarina Jepsen, endangered species program director at the Xerces Society.

With Endangered Species Act protection, remaining populations of this species could be protected from site specific threats and the bee’s habitat could be enhanced. Government agencies would also need to address issues such as the registration of new pesticides that may be harmful to this species and the movement of commercial bumble bees which may transfer disease to wild bumble bees.
Pollinators are critical components of our environment and essential to our food security—providing the indispensable service of pollination to more than 85 percent of flowering plants and contributing to one in three bites of the food that we eat. Bumble bees are among the most widely recognized and well understood group of native pollinators in North America and contribute to the pollination of food crops such as squash, melon, blueberry, cranberry, clover, greenhouse tomato and greenhouse pepper, as well as numerous wildflowers.

“Large areas of insect-pollinated crops, when combined with appropriate pesticide use practices, can contribute to a sustainable landscape for bumble bees,” said Jennifer Hopwood, Midwest pollinator conservation specialist with the Xerces Society. “If the rusty patched bumble bee is listed as an endangered species, private landowners who take actions to enhance habitat for this bee on their land may be eligible to enter into Safe Harbor agreements with the Fish and Wildlife Service or get funding through USDA conservation programs for habitat improvements.”

A Safe Harbor agreement provides assurances that private landowners will not have restrictions placed on their property if they create or improve habitat for an endangered species, and can serve as an incentive to encourage individuals to become involved in restoring habitat to benefit endangered species.