University of Kent

Rachel Bristol   PhD Student
E-mail: rmb33

CV

PhD research entitled “Ecology, conservation genetics and restoration of the critically-endangered Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina) and a comparison of the evolutionary history of Indian Ocean flycatchers.
Background"

The Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone corvina) is a critically endangered passerine endemic to the granitic Seychelles. Terpsiphone is a widespread genus of flycatchers occurring over most of sub-Saharan Africa, southern and eastern Asia and the Mascarene Islands. The Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher is the most endangered species in the genus; originally found on at least 5 islands, the species has undergone a dramatic decline in range and numbers and is currently restricted to the island of La Digue with a total world population of c.240 individuals. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Seychelles flycatcher population experienced a significant reduction in range, coinciding with the clearance of native broad-leaved forest and draining of wetlands as part of the expansion of the local copra industry and plantation agriculture on Seychelles.

The major threat to the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher on La Digue is habitat loss through deforestation for development, clearance for agriculture and more recently Takamaka wilt disease (Leptographium calophylli). Currently the vast majority (>90%) of flycatcher pairs occur outside the 21 ha Veuve Special Reserve on La Digue. Furthermore, much (>60%) of the flycatcher population occur on La Digues’ highly developed western plateau where they are in close contact with the human population (Currie et al. 2000).

There is a recognised need to create additional populations of Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher on other islands with suitable habitat: the objective of the Species Action Plan (Currie et al 2000) is to increase the number of breeding populations to at least three.A Darwin Initiative-funded project led by Dr Jim Groombridge and Nature Seychelles is working to conserve the future of the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher by translocating birds to establish flycatcher populations on other islands. I am the Project Officer on this Darwin project.

Unlike many other Seychelles endemic birds, the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher is able to survive in the presence of a suite of introduced mammalian predators on La Digue, such as rats (Rattus rattus), cats (Felis catus) and Seychelles bulbuls (Hypsipetes crassirostris). Flycatchers have been lost from at least four other Seychelles islands within the last 150 years, and it is likely that predation contributed significantly to this loss.

My PhD research is orientated around three themes;

• Historical and contemporary perspective of the ecology, conservation and population genetics of the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher, to measure patterns underlying reproductive success and productivity in the source population on La Digue in relation to habitat and territory variables, and to identify the type and distribution of genetic diversity amongst the source and reintroduced populations using microsatellite markers and mitochondrial DNA.
  
  
• Molecular phylogenetic analysis of the evolutionary history of Terpsiphone flycatchers using mitochondrial DNA, to assess the evolutionary distinctiveness of the Seychelles endemic form, identify the route of radiation towards and across the Indian Ocean and examine the rate of evolutionary change in key morphological characters.
  
  
• Integration of ecological and genetic information alongside conservation management options to develop a population and habitat viability analysis of the Seychelles Paradise Flycatcher. This broader analysis of translocation and reintroduction planning will form a template to apply to other flycatcher species of concern in the Indian Ocean, such as the Mascarene Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone bourbonnensis) on Mauritius.

Publications

Bristol, R, Millett, J, and Shah, N. J.  (2005). Best Practice Handbook for Management of a Critically Endangered Species: the Seychelles magpie Robin. Nature Seychelles, 72 pp.

Bristol, R (2005). Conservation introductions of Seychelles fody and warbler to Denis Island, Seychelles. Reintroduction News, 24, 35-36.

Currie, D, Bristol, R, Millet, J and Shah, N. J. (2005). Demography of the Seychelles Black Paradise-flycatcher: considerations for conservation and reintroduction. Ostrich, 76, 104-110.

Shah, N. J., Hill, M, and Bristol, R (2005). Biodiversity Rehabilitation on D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll.  In Engelhardt, U. (Ed.) (2005) The biodiversity characteristics and ecological status of the marine and terrestrial Environments of D’Arros Island and St Joseph Atoll., Amirantes, Seychelles. D’Arros research Centre technical Report No.1, D’Arros Island, Seychelles, 101 pp.

Currie, D, Bristol, R, Millett, J, Hill, M. Bristol, U, Parr, S. J. & Shah, N. J. (2003). Habitat requirements of the Seychelles black paradise flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina: a re-evaluation of translocation priorities. Ibis, 145, 624-636.

Currie, D, Hill, M, Millett, J, Bristol, R, Nevill, J. and Shah, N. J. (2003). Conservation options for the critically endangered Seychelles black paradise flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina. Bird Conservation International, 13, 91-114.

Currie, D, Bristol, R, Millett, J. and Shah, N. J. (2003). The distribution and population of the Seychelles black paradise flycatcher Terpsiphone corvina: implications for conservation and translocation. Bird Conservation International, 13, 307-318.

Thorsen, M, Shorten, R, Lucking, R, and Lucking V (2000). Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on Fregate island, Seychelles: The invasion, subsequent eradication attempts and implications for the island fauna. Biological Conservation, 96, 133-138.

Innes, J, Brown, K, Jansen, P, Shorten, R, and Williams, D (1996). Kokako population studies at Rotoehu forest and on Little Barrier Island. Science for Conservation, 30.

Brown, K, Innes J, and Shorten, R (1993). Evidence that possums prey on and scavenge birds’eggs, birds and mammals. Notornis, 40, 169-177.

Shorten, R, and Brown, K. (1992). Nocturnal roost behaviour of North Island Kokako. Notornis, 39, 125-126.