page_title: Abbott's booby
section_title: Threats and conservation
hierarchical_section_title: Abbott's booby / Threats and conservation
caption_attribution_description: English: This image visualizes an important part of the conservation work for the endangered Abbott's Booby on Christmas Island. Small gaps within the canopy are used for launching a drone that explores this location for potential nesting sites. These large seabirds can be detected from the air through their predominantly white color against green foliage. You can find two nesting birds on the emergent trees in the upper central part of this photograph.
context_page_description: Abbott's booby is an endangered seabird of the sulid family, which includes gannets and boobies. It is a large booby, smaller than gannets, and is placed within its own monotypic genus. It was first identified from a specimen collected by William Louis Abbott, who discovered it on Assumption Island in 1892.
  Abbott's booby breeds only in a few spots on the Australian territory of Christmas Island in the eastern Indian Ocean, although it formerly had a much wider range. It has white plumage with black markings, and is adapted for long-distance flight. It forages around Christmas Island, often around nutrient-rich oceanic upwellings, although individuals can travel for thousands of kilometres. Pairs mate for life and raise one chick every two or three years, nesting near the top of emergent trees in the rainforest canopy.
  The population is decreasing. Historically, much of its former habitat was logged to make way for phosphate mining. Some logging continues, and the effects of the former logging continue to adversely affect the current population. Another threat has been caused by the introduction of yellow crazy ants, which decrease habitat quality.
context_section_description: Even a minimal decline in habitat quality can have a significant impact on these birds. During 1965–1987, phosphate mining destroyed one-third of the Abbott's booby's nesting habitat. Degeneration has continued, with the health of individual trees decreasing. Clearings left over from logging have increased wind in the canopy, generating turbulence up to 300 m (984 ft) downwind of the clearings. This causes lower breeding success due to chicks being dislodged and not surviving their first flight. Adult survival is also reduced due to increased risk of them falling to the ground when landing. This affects 36% of the current population.
  Introduced plants are foiling habitat rehabilitation in abandoned mining sites and pose a risk if they invade primary forest. Continued mining remains an issue, with mature secondary forest cleared for mining in 2007. A request to mine in what is currently 250 half of forest was turned down in 2007, but is under appeal. Christmas Island Phosphates Pty Ltd. may not clear primary forest, and requires a permit to clear regrowth.
  Christmas Island National Park includes all known Abbott's booby nest sites. It was created in 1980 and was subsequently expanded to cover 60% of the island. The population was monitored from 1982 to 1993, and in 1984, 20% of mined areas next to nesting sites had been replanted. The Environment Australia Abbott's Booby Recovery Plan aims to regenerate forests and help prevent further decline in the species. Forest rehabilitation has now been attempted in about 30% of abandoned mining areas, with a focus on areas close to primary forest where new growth could act as a wind break. Most of the planted trees are foundation species, with non-native species being used if they do not invade the environment. Part of the forest regeneration project is financed by the phosphate mining company as part of their lease agreement.
  An invasion of the yellow crazy ant poses continued risk for the booby population. Yellow crazy ants formed supercolonies in the 1990s and spread throughout 28% of the islands forest. Starting in 2000, efforts to control it eliminated it from 2,800 ha of forest, resulting in a 95% reduction of its range. The range was 300 ha in 2005, at much lower densities than originally, although it has slightly recovered since then. The ants could prey on nestlings and cause nest abandonment, although this has not been observed. They do, however, disrupt the ecosystem by killing red crabs, and farm scale insects that damage the trees  where the boobies nest.
  Overfishing and marine pollution pose additional problems for the population. The birds may be directly hunted or caught as bycatch in longline fishing, as they may come into contact with Indonesian and Taiwanese fisheries. This has not been documented.
  Plans for a satellite launch pad to be built on the island have been discussed, but are not currently being put into action.
  In 1988, a cyclone destroyed a third of all nests and fledglings. Climate change resulting in increased sea surface temperatures, changes in rainfall patterns, and changes in the El Niño Southern Oscillation may further damage the population due to changing weather patterns. The increase in sea temperatures reduces breeding success, as the best feeding is found in cold water caused by nutrient-rich upwellings.
  Abbott's booby is listed under CITES Appendix I, and is classified as endangered in the IUCN Redlist. It is also classified as endangered under the Australian Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Many Abbott's boobies are in the National Park, so their nests are monitored.
caption: Conservation work for the Abbott's Booby on Christmas Island. A drone is launched from the gaps within the canopies to explore for potential nesting sites. The birds can be detected through their predominantly white color against green foliage.
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