Results of management actions for tern populations on Bonaire

• Main Authors: Bertuol, Paulo, Eckrich, Caren, Galitzki, Elise, Eybrecht, Luigi, Debrot, A.O.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2017
• Subjects: Life Science; Sterna hirundo
• Online Access: https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/results-of-management-actions-for-tern-populations-on-bonaire

Five species of terns are reported breeding in Bonaire from April to August. For three years, the species Sternula antillarum, Sterna hirundo, Thalasseus maximus, Thalasseus eurygnatha and in 2017 Sterna dougalli were monitored in southern Bonaire during the breeding season, with the objective of suggesting management actions and increasing reproductive success. Monitoring results showed that the main threat is the presence of feral cats. The hatching success for Thallasseus species and Sterna species was relatively similar over the years. However, there are indications that hatching success for Sternula antillarum colonies on roads has increased from 17% (2014) to 36% (2016) after a pilot program for management of invasive predators began in 2015. On the other hand, native predators on artificial islands have had negative effects, suggesting that the creation of spaced islands is important to avoid large concentrations in small areas that favor predation.