Multi-team project working to understand connectivity among seabird communities at the scale of the Western Indian Ocean, and also more locally within the Chagos Archipelago:

The Seabird Connectivity in the Western Indian Ocean project assesses how breeding colonies of six ecologically contrasting seabird species are connected within the Western Indian Ocean by establishing the rate of gene flow between colonies. This will identify discrete ‘conservation or management units’. The team are also exploring what encourages the birds to move to other islands. Lead investigators: Dr. Malcolm Nicoll (Zoological Society of London), Dr. Matthieu le Corre (Université de la Réunion).

The Seabird Connectivity in the Chagos Archipelago project focusses on red-footed boobies (Sula sula) and wedge-tailed shearwaters (Ardenna pacifica). It combines observations of seabird movement and ecology together with data obtained from echosounders of the bird's fish prey, oceanography and terrestrial habitat maps to determine what drives the movement of these seabird species on land and at sea. Lead investigator: Dr. Steve Votier, Heriot Watt University.