The history, status and trends of the Endangered Seychelles Magpie-robinCopsychus sechellarum

Abstract

SummaryThe once ‘Critically Endangered’ Seychelles Magpie-robin was down to just 12 individuals in 1960 on one island of the granitic Seychelles. In 2015, due to intensive long-term management the population stands at around 280 birds on five islands, marking a significant success for this species. Translocations to the islands of Cousin and Cousine have led to population saturation and stability, a translocation to Denis Island has resulted in a continuing population increase and the founder population on Frégate Island is likewise increasing. The latest translocation to Aride Island in 2002 resulted in population increase then stability but is now showing a steep decline throughout 2014 into 2015. Reasons for this decline are yet unknown though disease, lack of recruitment, the impacts of social conflict and the possibility of genetic issues are discussed. This report summarises the history of management for this species, compiling all available published and unpublished information, to provide a comprehensive account of the Seychelles Magpie-robin recovery.

Conservation genomics of the endangered Seychelles Magpie‐Robin (Copsychus sechellarum): a unique insight into the history of a precious endemic bird

“…1992), and was exacerbated by continued specimen collection as the population dwindled (in Oustalet 1878, as highlighted in Burt et al . 2016). The population, which by 1965 had been reduced to only eight sighted individuals on a single island, Frégate, had failed to recover naturally by 1990, resulting in management intervention from Birdlife International and The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), through the implementation of a recovery plan.…”

Defining and bridging the barriers to more effective conservation of island ecosystems: A practitioner's perspective

“…Nowhere has biodiversity loss been so acute as in island ecosystems (Brooks et al, 2002), where invasive alien species (Harper & Bunbury, 2015; Prior et al, 2018), habitat loss (Brooks et al, 2002) and climate change (Courchamp et al, 2014) have all had major impacts, causing extinctions and reducing surviving populations to critical levels. Despite major conservation progress and the development of pioneering techniques, such as invasive alien species management (Bunbury et al, 2019; Jones et al, 2016), translocations (Burt et al, 2016; Jones & Kress, 2012) and in situ species management (Samways et al, 2010), these pressures are compounded in island nations—especially Small Island Developing States (SIDS)—which are highly dependent on biodiversity for their economic and social wellbeing (Mouillot et al, 2020). However, capacity and resource constraints (human, institutional, and financial) can often hinder national and regional responses (Cherian, 2007).…”

Cryptic inbreeding depression in a growing population of a long‐lived species

“…), Eurasian otter (Kuiters ), Seychelles magpie robin (Burt et al . )). A lack of long‐term monitoring could explain why there are not more examples in the scientific literature, and we suspect inbreeding depression in spite of population growth is a broadly occurring pattern that has gone undetected largely because monitoring schemes are not designed to detect it.…”

“…However, such measures can be misleading estimates of long‐term viability and it has been noted that interest in the conservation of a given species declines once they are recorded as having positive population growth and are thus ‘safe’ (Burt et al . ).…”

“…The endangered Seychelles magpie robin ( Copsychus sechellarum ) is considered a conservation success based on population growth, but understanding of the drivers behind population growth and decline in this species is lacking and inbreeding could be an issue in at least some populations (Burt et al . ). Again, more data are required.…”