Since November 2, 2022, the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) has called on an ornithologist expert to contribute to the realization of certain actions of the Life BIODIV'OM project. For more than 3 months, Vincent Lemoine will carry out an inventory of the island's avifauna, identify priority areas for bird conservation in Saint-Martin and participate in feeding and promoting the new naturalist sciences portal. : Fauna-Antilles.
Important Bird Areas
ZICOs are the French equivalent of IBAs (Important Bird Areas). These are sites that are identified as important for certain species of birds because they are used as breeding, wintering, feeding or migration areas. The designation of these sites as IBAs does not directly represent a legal protection status but remains an essential argument for obtaining one thereafter.
To be able to be identified as an IBA site, several criteria are necessary such as the need for the site to host a significant number of individuals of a threatened species or one of global interest or the fact of hosting species with a wide distribution. which benefits from this site for one of the phases of their life cycle.
In order to be able to carry out the identification of certain sites in ZICO, it is thus necessary to carry out an updated ornithological inventory as well as an estimate of the populations of the species of birds observed on the territory. It is within this framework that the LPO France, in collaboration with the National Nature Reserve of Saint-Martin called on an ornithological expert to carry out a 3-month mission on the island to meet these needs.
Important issues
This mission has several objectives:
1. Take stock of knowledge about the avifauna of Saint-Martin
For this, our expert will produce an updated list of the birds of Saint-Martin and the Banc d'Anguilla. In particular, he will use existing data (eBird, iNaturalist, etc.), consult local ornithologists and environmental structures on the island, carry out bibliographical research and carry out his own observations in the field. It will also attempt to assess the abundance of the species present.
2. Centralize data and feed the Faune-Antilles portal
The Faune-Antilles portal is a new participatory naturalist science portal that brings together wildlife data transmitted by all audiences, from ordinary citizens to informed naturalists and managers of protected areas, on different islands of the French West Indies such as Martinique. , Guadeloupe, Saint-Barthélemy and Saint-Martin.
One of the objectives of the mission is therefore to feed this database thanks to observations made in the field but also to encourage local actors to enter their data to enrich it.
3. Assess the conservation status of Saint-Martin bird species
The expert will aim to identify the various challenges and threats to the birdlife of Saint-Martin and to produce sheets for each priority species according to the situation of each at the local, regional and global level.
4. Identify priority sites for avifauna in Saint-Martin
The final objective of this mission will be the identification of certain areas important for the conservation of birds. This will involve the identification of certain key species, the identification of priority sites and the assessment of the issues and potential threats for each of the sites identified.
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