PROJECTS & RESEARCH
Sooty Terns gather ahead of for the breeding season
Aride Island hosts thousands of breeding seabirds each year, especially during the southeast monsoon and land birds that breed year round. Aride is also an island where native plants find fertile soil for growth. Because of this it plays a very important role in the conservation of Seychelles wildlife both terrestrial and marine (with a 200m of protected area from the coastline).
With such an important source of biodiversity, the wildlife on the Island needs to be monitored and demographic trends analyzed and researched to understand the health of the island ecosystem. For these reasons, the most important work on the island is the monitoring of species and populations of birds, marine life, vegetation, and wildlife in general that can make ecosystem dynamics understandable.
Routine monitoring works normally involves the whole staff and is carried out on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis.
The daily activities include:
- Seychelles Magpie Robin monitoring (all year round)
- Beach patrols for breeding sea turtles (mostly during the Hawksbill Turtle season, from October to March) and monitoring of nests.
The weekly activities include:
- Beach accessibility for sea turtles, a survey of changes in beach profile based on sand movements (all year round)
- Fairy Tern nest monitoring, to assess the breeding productivity of this species (all year round)
- White-tailed Tropicbird nest monitoring, to assess the breeding productivity of this species (all year round)
- Seychelles Magpie Robin nest-box check and maintenance, to detect new breeding attempts (all year round)
- Pisonia grandis survey, to measure the impact of seeds on seabirds and understand the dynamic of its fruiting (all year round).
- Bridled Tern counts, to assess the number of birds roosting on Aride (all year round)
The monthly activities include:
- Roosting frigatebird counts, to assess the number of frigatebird roosting on Aride (all year round);
The annual activities include:
- Seabirds census, normally conducted in June to assess the number of seabirds (Sooty Terns, Lesser Noddies, Brown Noddies, Fairy Terns, White-tailed Tropicbirds) breeding on Aride.
Beyond these monitoring projects, others research and monitoring occur at longer intervals include Wright’s Gardenia census, shearwater census and monitoring, reef monitoring, fish checklist, and invertebrate studies.
Research workers coming to Aride should refer to the volunteering page of this site for general background information and details of living conditions on the island. Please also download our document of additional information for research workers
With such an important source of biodiversity, the wildlife on the Island needs to be monitored and demographic trends analyzed and researched to understand the health of the island ecosystem. For these reasons, the most important work on the island is the monitoring of species and populations of birds, marine life, vegetation, and wildlife in general that can make ecosystem dynamics understandable.
Routine monitoring works normally involves the whole staff and is carried out on a daily, weekly, monthly and annual basis.
The daily activities include:
- Seychelles Magpie Robin monitoring (all year round)
- Beach patrols for breeding sea turtles (mostly during the Hawksbill Turtle season, from October to March) and monitoring of nests.
The weekly activities include:
- Beach accessibility for sea turtles, a survey of changes in beach profile based on sand movements (all year round)
- Fairy Tern nest monitoring, to assess the breeding productivity of this species (all year round)
- White-tailed Tropicbird nest monitoring, to assess the breeding productivity of this species (all year round)
- Seychelles Magpie Robin nest-box check and maintenance, to detect new breeding attempts (all year round)
- Pisonia grandis survey, to measure the impact of seeds on seabirds and understand the dynamic of its fruiting (all year round).
- Bridled Tern counts, to assess the number of birds roosting on Aride (all year round)
The monthly activities include:
- Roosting frigatebird counts, to assess the number of frigatebird roosting on Aride (all year round);
The annual activities include:
- Seabirds census, normally conducted in June to assess the number of seabirds (Sooty Terns, Lesser Noddies, Brown Noddies, Fairy Terns, White-tailed Tropicbirds) breeding on Aride.
Beyond these monitoring projects, others research and monitoring occur at longer intervals include Wright’s Gardenia census, shearwater census and monitoring, reef monitoring, fish checklist, and invertebrate studies.
Research workers coming to Aride should refer to the volunteering page of this site for general background information and details of living conditions on the island. Please also download our document of additional information for research workers
