Saving endemic and threatened species
Nature Seychelles Science Programme focuses on research, monitoring, and management of threatened endemic wildlife and their habitats.
As a Birdlife International Partner we concentrate on threatened endemic bird and seabirds conservation, but more recently, and in line with other conservation needs of Seychelles, we have expanded our focus and are working on other taxa including mammals, reptiles, insects and marine species. We increase the quantity and quality of our research by conducting much of our research in partnership with institutes such as Universities.
We have undertaken research on coral reefs and the effects of bleaching, reef fish assemblages, marine turtles, Sooglossid frogs, Sheath tailed bats, Seychelles fody, Seychelles magpie-robin, Seychelles warbler, Seychelles Kestrel, seabirds, introduced white-flies.
The Seychelles Magpie Robin was once once of the rarest birds in the world with approximately 23 individuals on one island. In 1990 the Seychelles Magpie Recovery Programme was launched in response to a collapse in numbers.
The early days of the recovery program focused on stabilizing and recovering the last population on Fregate Island: research was implemented in parallel to conservation management. Once the population stabilized and increased there were sufficient birds to be re-established on Cousin, Cousine, Denis and Aride. Today, the Cousin island population is over 60 birds and the Seychelles population now numbers 500 birds.
The recovery program was managed by Birdlife International and the Royal Society for Protection of Birds (RSPB) between 1990 and 1997. In 1998 Nature Seychelles took over the program and set up the Seychelles Magpie Robin Recovery Team (SMART). Coordinated by Nature Seychelles, ensures the continuous monitoring and conservation management of these birds. Each Island is responsible for monitoring their birds and every 6 months a meeting is held to share news and data and make necessary conservation management decisions. On Cousin the birds are monitored to keep continuous records of their behaviour and breeding biology.
Nature Seychelles organizes twice yearly meetings to check on progress and make management decisions, maintains the SMR database, and acts as a focal point for the collation of blood samples for molecular sexing and for trouble shooting.
Seychelles is internationally important for seabirds, with 18 breeding species numbering millions of individuals.
Seabirds are a critical part of the oceans food web and can be used as bio-indicators of changes in the oceans. Likewise on land their guano creates a nutrient enriched soil which supports a wealth of plans, trees and shrubs which in their turn support a large abundance of insects providing food for the reptiles and land birds of the island.
For many years, conservationists have been conducting research and undertaking censuses. However large knowledge gaps remain. With this in mind Nature Seychelles with backing from the Norwegian Embassy and Airtel Seychelles launched the Seychelles Seabird Group to develop a coordinated plan for the management of seabirds by supporting seabird group partners, providing training and coordinating surveys and research.
A Seabird Monitoring Handbook for Seychelles has been produced; it contains recommended survey methods for the 18 species of seabird found breeding the Seychelles.
Seabird Population & Breeding Census on Cousin Island
Cousin is an important breeding area for some species of seabird in particular the White tern, White-tailed Tropicbird, Brown and Lesser Noddys, Bridled Terns, and Tropical and Wedgetailed Shearwaters. Some birds are year-round breeders, others have particular breeding seasons. Throughout the year seabird breeding success monitoring and population censuses are carried out in order to gain a long-term data set allowing for trends to be discovered.
