Source: TUFTS UNIVERSITY submitted to
SEABIRD ECOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT NETWORK (SEANET): CITIZEN SCIENCE INITIATIVE FOR MARINE ECOSYSTEM HEALTH.
Sponsoring Institution
Cooperating Schools of Veterinary Medicine
Project Status
TERMINATED
Funding Source
STATE
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0201887
Grant No.
(N/A)
Project No.
MASV-PV3875
Proposal No.
(N/A)
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Program Code
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jun 1, 2004
Project End Date
May 31, 2005
Grant Year
(N/A)
Project Director
Harris, R. J.
Recipient Organization
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
200 WESTBORO ROAD
N. GRAFTON,MA 01536
Performing Department
ENVIRONMENTAL & POPULATION HEALTH
Non Technical Summary
Numerous threats contribute to seabird mortality events, such as diseases, persistent organic pollutants and metals, and oil pollution. Seabirds are a particularly good indicator of environmental health, allowing us to assess disease and contaminant threats to human health as well. In collaboration with over 50 non-profit organizations, agencies, and over 100 volunteers, Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine has initiated a project called the Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET). The main goal of SEANET is to involve citizen scientists and students in conducting regular beached bird surveys along the coast, in order to detect high-mortality events. This project will focus on the expansion of beached bird surveys and seabird conservation education throughout Maine.
Animal Health Component
25%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
13508201160100%
Knowledge Area
135 - Aquatic and Terrestrial Wildlife;

Subject Of Investigation
0820 - Wild birds;

Field Of Science
1160 - Pathology;
Goals / Objectives
In collaboration with over 50 non-profit organizations, agencies, and over 100 volunteers, Tufts Center for Conservation Medicine at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine has initiated a project called the Seabird Ecological Assessment Network (SEANET). The main goal of SEANET is to involve citizen scientists and students in conducting regular beached bird surveys along the coast, in order to detect high-mortality events (such as disease outbreaks, persistent organic pollutants, metals, and oil pollution) and to establish baseline data on coastal aquatic mortality. Chronic oil pollution, often the result of illegal dumping of oily bilge waste, can pose a great threat to marine birds. Seabirds are a particularly good indicator of environmental health, allowing us to assess disease and contaminant threats to human health as well. The environmental benefits of this project result from the detection and mitigation of specific threats to marine ecosystem health and the educational benefits of involving citizens in applied research. This long-term monitoring effort will also serve to detect unusual large-scale seabird mortality events, as sea turtle and marine mammal stranding networks do for those populations.
Project Methods
In collaboration with citizens and conservation groups like Wildlife Trust, The Lloyd Center for Environmental Studies and Massachusetts Audubon Society, we have initiated beached bird surveys covering beaches from Massachusetts to New Jersey. These surveys involve over 100 volunteers walking stretches of beach monthly or more frequently. To facilitate the expansion of beached bird surveys and seabird conservation education throughout Maine, we are planning a one-and-a-half day volunteer training in Maine. This workshop will focus on seabird conservation efforts, providing volunteers with a morning boat trip to a puffin breeding colony, a talk by the coordinator and founder of the Seabird Restoration Project of the National Audubon Society, and a seabird necropsy demonstration by the Director of Tufts Wildlife Clinic, illustrating how SEANET veterinarians and students can attempt to determine mortality causes in birds that are collected. Volunteers will then be guided through a training on beached bird survey data collection (bird ID, measurements, protocol, etc.).

Progress 06/01/04 to 05/31/05

Outputs
The main goal of SEANET is to involve citizen scientists and students in conducting regular beached bird surveys in order to detect high-mortality events (such as disease outbreaks and oil spills) and to establish baseline data on coastal and marine bird mortality. Funding for this project was specifically provided to expand this work throughout the Gulf of Maine, and to kick off this portion of the project by holding a one-and-a-half day Volunteer Training / Seabird Conservation in Maine workshop. This workshop was a great success, with 33 attendees who were able to enjoy the Hog Island (Audubon camp) surroundings. The participating teachers took the project back to their classrooms, providing an opportunity to integrate field work, conservation applications, and lessons about the scientific method into their curricula. A biologist from QLF/Center for the Marine Environment attended the workshop to learn about the project, and she worked to extend SEANET efforts throughout Atlantic Canada over the past year. This event provided an opportunity to solidify international collaboration. We have recruited the coordinator of the Piper Project, which monitors piping plovers breeding on the Acadian Penninsula of New Brunswick, Canada. He will be training volunteers and interns in SEANET protocols, and will incorporate information on threats to marine birds into an educational project for local schools. SEANET and all of the above collaborators were invited to participate in a three day workshop hosted by QLF Soundings Institute: Advancing Community-based Practices in Marine Conservation and Management. Our collaborating veterinarian from QLF helped with program logistics, volunteer recruiting, and continues her work with SEANET by necropsying and sampling dead seabird specimens collected by our volunteers. Two veterinary students will be working in a collaborative effort between SEANET and the Maine Avian Health Surveillance Project. The Hog Island workshop also provided an opportunity for participants to learn about a seabird colony off the coast of Maine, Eastern Egg Rock. Volunteers and students were able to observe the results of management efforts that have been applied to other threatened species worldwide. The surroundings and congenial atmosphere created by Maine Audubon Hog Island staff provided a wonderful setting in which volunteers and researchers were able to connect, exchange ideas, and form lasting relationships. Contacts made at this event will be instrumental in spreading the word to other potential volunteers and collaborators. A Falmouth, Maine, training was held at Maine Audubon headquarters, and a bi-national training was held in Calais, Maine, with Bird Studies Canada. We now have 67 volunteers monitoring beaches in Maine and New Hampshire, and an additional 45 volunteers in New Brunswick and northern Quebec, Canada. So far, the beached bird encounter rate in Maine is lower than in other states or in Canada. This result may be due to the lack of sandy beaches in Maine. Also, no oiled birds have been recovered in Maine, although additional years of data are required before we can draw any substantial conclusions.

Impacts
Funding for this project was specifically provided to expand this work throughout the Gulf of Maine, and to kick off this portion of the project by holding a one-and-a-half day Volunteer Training / Seabird Conservation in Maine workshop. We now have 67 volunteers monitoring beaches in Maine and New Hampshire, and an additional 45 volunteers in New Brunswick and northern Quebec, Canada. So far, the beached bird encounter rate in Maine is lower than in other states or in Canada. This result may be due to the lack of sandy beaches in Maine. Also, no oiled birds have been recovered in Maine, although additional years of data are required before we can draw any substantial conclusions.

Publications

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