Threats and conservation status of common and roseate terns Sterna hirundo/S. dougallii in the Azores: a case study for Terceira Island
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Published source details
Lamelas-López L., Pietrzak M., Ferreira M. & Neves V.C. (2021) Threats and conservation status of common and roseate terns Sterna hirundo/S. dougallii in the Azores: a case study for Terceira Island. Marine Ornithology, 49, 301-309.
Published source details Lamelas-López L., Pietrzak M., Ferreira M. & Neves V.C. (2021) Threats and conservation status of common and roseate terns Sterna hirundo/S. dougallii in the Azores: a case study for Terceira Island. Marine Ornithology, 49, 301-309.
Summary
Control avian predators on islands
A before-and-after study in 2015–2020 on Terceira Island in the Azores (Lamelas-López et al. 2021) reported that after removing eggs and destroying nests to control yellow-legged gulls Larus michahellis atlantis, the abundance of terns Sterna spp. increased. Statistical significance was not assessed. Gulls were controlled at Ponta das Contendas annually from 2015. The number of nesting gulls declined from 14 pairs in 2015 to only one pair in 2020. Meanwhile, tern occupancy of nest boxes increased: from 2 of 45 boxes occupied in 2016, to 6 of 45 boxes occupied in 2019. Counts included both common terns S. hirundo and roseate terns S. dougallii. The study site also had a small rat population.
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