PhD in Sustainable development and cooperation

Contacts

Supervisor

Curriculum vitae

Research activities

The order Sphenisciformes, commonly known as penguins, includes aquatic, flightless
birds. Ten out of 18 species of penguins to date are classified as vulnerable or endangered
on the IUCN Red List. These species have to face problems mostly linked to human
activity: pollution, decreasing of fish stocks, and habitat degradation connected to climate
change. In this context it is crucial to study and monitor penguin colonies avoiding animal
disturbance. Passive Acoustic Monitoring (PAM), is a cutting edge monitoring technique to
infer information about penguins’ behavior and abundance through the sounds they emit.
The African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is one of the most endangered species, with
a population of 1.5 million pairs in 1900 decreased to 21 000 pairs nowadays.
This project aims to study the conservation status of the African penguin through Passive
Acoustic Monitoring.The methodology will include data collection in ex-situ (Zoomarine)
and in-situ african penguin colonies (in South-Africa and Namibia). More specifically, my
goal is to develop a PAM tool to estimate: 1) the number of breeding individuals per colony,
identifying individually distinctive calls, 2) The breeding success of the colonies,
identifying the number of chicks through their begging calls, 3) the body condition of
penguins, linked to the nutritional status.This project will involve collaboration with
Zoomarine Roma and SANCCOB (The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation
of Coastal Birds).
The results will assist local authorities involved in the conservation of the African penguin
in the management of the extant colonies and will open new avenues for developing an
acoustic monitoring protocol for the African penguin that can potentially be extended toother species of seabirds.