Research Objectives

The Isle of Youth is an area of vital biodiversity importance not only to Cuba, but to Conservation in the Caribbean. Not only has its remote location meant that it has suffered less of the human impacts which have troubled many other regions, but it has also been well conserved by the Cuban government's protection systems. This means that the mangroves, forests, and reefs of the Isle of Youth (all of which are representative of habitats found across large areas of the Caribbean) form a fantastic case example of Caribbean Ecology, and yet very little is actually known about the biodiversity of the Island. Operation Wallacea are working with the University of Havana to build a long term monitoring programme for the Isle of Youth, so as to highlight the region's importance as a best-practice example of conservation management.
Objectives for 2010

There are two main objectives for the 2010 surveys:

1. To complete a report describing the species communities of key taxa (bats, birds, reptiles, fish, butterflies, moths, other invertebrates and hard and soft corals) and population levels of manatees and reef fish within the Punta Frances National Park and Siguanea Bay to identify the conservation value of the Park and Siguanea Bay and to establish a baseline against which the effectiveness of the conservation management programme can be assessed. The report will be submitted to Flora y Fauna (the management agency for the National Park) by March 2011.

2. To establish the research centre and the system for using the boats as research platforms as well as setting up and supplying short term forest camps to complete the night time and early morning surveys. Once these systems can be established successfully then it will be possible to extend the survey programme in future years to other areas of the southern island APRM.

Data needed for the Punta Frances and Siguanea Bay Biodiversity report

1. Habitat usage and feeding habits of the manatee population will be described. These data will be gathered by daily 30 minute point counts and transects from research boats. In the narrow mangrove channels and lagoons, side scan sonar surveys will be used to identify the position of any manatees. The GPS position of all manatee sightings over the 7 week survey period will be logged and environmental data (salinity, temperature, aquatic vegetation) will be collected at each site to determine the importance of freshwater upwellings and vegetation communities in affecting the distribution of manatees. Indirect evidence of manatees like faecal samples will be reported and collected for further analyses. These data will be combined with those collected in the 2009 Operation Wallacea surveys and similar surveys in March 2009 and 2010. Permission to radio tag three manatees has been requested from the Cuban authorities by the University of Havana and funding obtained for the tags. However, permits may not be forthcoming in time for the 2010 survey season so the more labour intensive direct sightings method will have to be used.

2. The bat communities will be described from mist net captures adjacent to the ranger station and from day time counts in the cave systems in the Park. These data will be supplemented with data gathered in the 2009 Operation Wallacea surveys and from similar surveys in March 2009 and 2010.

3. Species lists and relative abundance of reptiles in the Punta Frances Park. These data will be gathered from completing standardised searches along the track systems in the Park. In addition night time surveys of the beaches adjacent to the ranger station will be completed to assess their usage as turtle nesting sites. Early morning treks along the remaining beaches will be used to assess the usage of these other beaches as turtle nesting sites. The transect search data will be supplemented by the data gathered in the 2009 Operation Wallacea surveys and from similar surveys in March 2009 and 2010. The turtle nest site data will be supplemented by the data gathered by Flora y Fauna rangers over a series of years.

4. Species lists and relative abundance of birds. These data will be gathered from completing early morning transect counts along the track systems in the Park. In addition mist nets will be operated for standardised times in a variety of habitats to identify crepuscular species. Water birds will be assessed from daily research boat counts from the marina to the dive sites. The forest transect and mist net data will be supplemented with data gathered in the 2009 Operation Wallacea surveys and from similar surveys in March 2009 and 2010 and from species records obtained by the rangers and previous visits by birders to the Park.

5. Fish community data on the reefs of Punta Frances will be gathered from standardised 500m Underwater Visual Census counts with all fish within an imaginary box 2.5 m either side of the transect line and 2.5m above the transect line will be counted and their length estimated by Havana University staff. A total of 30 transects will be completed in August 2010. Flora and Fauna Enterprises which is a part of the Ministry of Agriculture in Cuba has received $5 million funding through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to improve their capacity to monitor and police the network of Marine Protected Areas in Cuba. They are investigating the use of the stereo video system used by the Operation Wallacea teams in southern Mozambique and developed by the University of Western Australia as a method to gather annual data on the reef fish communities around Cuba. It is hoped that the various permits will be obtained to import this equipment and software in time for the Operation Wallacea 2010 survey season and if so the video equipment will be used to gather the fish community data instead of the UVC counts. The advantage of the stereo video system is that the species identifications can be verified and the length estimates have an accuracy of +/- 5% enabling much more accurate biomass estimates to be made. However, if permits cannot be obtained for the 2010 season then the UVC surveys will need to be completed.

6. Lepidoptera surveys will be completed from daytime transect surveys along the track systems in the Park. Most species can be identified on the wing using binoculars but others will need to be captured using sweep nets for confirmation of the species. In addition light traps will be used to catch moths at the ranger station on a nightly basis over an 8 week period in July and August. All moths captured will be identified to species level . In addition beetles captured will be preserved and forwarded to national experts for identification. A malaise trap will also be operated throughout a 2 month period to capture other flying insects and the captured specimens sorted into general taxa and forwarded to the national experts for those groups.

7. Benthic reef communities will be surveyed using 100 randomly photoquadrats. The digital images will then be analysed to identify hard and soft coral communities, percentage cover of hard corals, soft corals, sponges and algae and percentage of corals with signs of disease or bleaching.