St Helena Island Research Articles

The world's most remote community service? Partnership working and building community capacity on the British Overseas Territory Island of St Helena

Measuring just 47 square miles and 1950 km from its nearest neighbour, St Helena is a British Overseas Territory in the South Atlantic with a population of approximately 4500. Working in this remote setting is one of the world's smallest probation services delivering a range of interventions including community service. In this practice note the authors explore the sustained, successful partnership between St Helena Island Probation Service and the St Helena National Trust. This partnership not only provides meaningful community service placements which support vital conservation work, but simultaneously contributes to an individual's journey towards desistance through enhancing employability and supporting positive community reintegration.

Between-year and spatial variation in body condition across the breeding cycle in a pelagic seabird, the Red-billed Tropicbird.

Body condition in pelagic seabirds impacts key fitness-related traits such as reproductive performance and breeding frequency. Regulation of body condition can be especially important for species with long incubation periods and long individual incubation shifts between foraging trips. Here, we show that body condition of adult Red-billed Tropicbirds (Phaethon aethereus) at St Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean, exhibited considerable variation between years (2013-2017) and between different stages of the breeding cycle. Females took the first incubation shift following egg laying, after which males and females alternated incubation shifts of varying length, ranging from <1 to 12 days. Body condition declined in both sexes during an incubation shift by an average of 22 g (2.83% of starting mass) per day and over the incubation period; mass loss was significantly greater during longer incubation shifts, later within a shift and later in the total incubation period. There was also significant differences in incubation behaviour and body condition between years; in 2015, coinciding with a moderate coastal warming event along the Angolan-Namibian coastlines, adults on average undertook longer incubation shifts than in other years and had lower body condition. This suggests that substantial between-year prey fluctuations in the Angola Benguela upwelling system may influence prey availability, in turn affecting incubation behaviour and regulation of body condition. Adults rearing chicks showed a significant reduction in body condition when chicks showed the fastest rate of growth. Chick growth rates during 2017 from two localities in the Atlantic Ocean: an oceanic (St Helena) versus neritic (Cabo Verde) population were similar, but chicks from St Helena were overall heavier and larger at fledging. Results from this multi-year study highlight that flexibility and adaptability in body condition regulation will be important for populations of threatened species to optimise resources as global climate change increasingly influences prey availability.

Creating space for dialogue: Exploring what matters for children on St Helena Island through The World Café

The World Café (TWC) method is now established as a participatory tool used in community development and qualitative research. However, there is a limited critique of TWC as a social work research method, especially with children. This paper discusses TWC as a method for understanding what matters for children on the British Overseas Territory of St Helena Island. As a social worker, the importance of supporting children’s engagement and voice is well known in participation, necessitating careful ethical consideration. Within this project facilitating authentic conversations with children on a remote island required examining assumptions alongside engaging with colonial legacies to bring forward respectful participation. TWC shares several fractures of other participatory approaches evolving from critical pedagogy, which appeared aligned with social work values and ethics. Facilitated shared learning and allowed children to discuss issues that mattered to them, although handing over dialogue to children required commitment to trust and sharing control with young people. Café events revealed the complex positioning of social roles situating lived experiences, whereby children developed their learning of what mattered to them through interactions and a growing understanding of their global position. The method edged dialogue towards transformative conversations, acknowledging the oppression of marginalised peoples, requires reflection and action from children and young people themselves to elevate their positions from within their own knowledge. This supports the potential for further research to understand if creative methods can create more spaces for dialogue, allowing the emergence of more authentic children’s engagement in research which is more socially just.

A system dynamics exploration of energy system behavior on St Helena island

A system dynamics exploration of energy system behavior on St Helena island

First records of two non-indigenous tineid species from St Helena Island (Tineioidia: Tineidae)

The author reports the first records of two non-indigenous Tineidae species which were found on St Helena: Amphixystis siccata (Meyrick, 1910) and Setomorpha rutella Zeller, 1852. Moths and habitats of both species and the male and female genitalia of A. siccata are illustrated here.

On two species of Opogona Zeller, 1853 from St Helena Island (Tineoidea: Tineidae: Hieroxestinae)

A new species of Opogona is described, based on specimens collected at two sites with Gumwood trees (Commidendrum robustum (Roxb.) DC.) (Asteraceae) on St Helena Island. The species is very distinctive among all other known Opogona species on the island in its characteristic bronze-and-black speckled pattern of the forewings. Colour photographs of the moth and drawings of the male and female genitalia are given. Genetic and morphological examination of specimens treated as O. apicalis (E. Wollaston, 1879) and O. compositarum (E. Wollaston, 1879) revealed that they are conspecific, and these two names are therefore here synonymised, giving priority to Tinea compositarum E. Wollaston, 1879 over the equally old Tinea apicalis E. Wollaston, 1879 syn. nov.

Three new Opogona species with wing reduction from St Helena Island, South Atlantic Ocean (Lepidoptera: Tineidae: Hieroxestinae)

Three new species of Opogona Zeller, 1853 from St Helena Island with wing reduction are described; Opogona ashmolei Karisch &amp; Fowler, sp. nov., Opogona squamata Karisch &amp; Stevens, sp. nov. and Opogona exiguata Karisch &amp; Dutton, sp. nov. All these species were found in the semi-desert areas in the Eastern Part of the island, where the larva of O. ashmolei Karisch &amp; Fowler, sp. nov. feeds on Suaeda fruticosa.

Elachista trifasciata (Wollaston, 1879) on St Helena Island (Lepidoptera: Elachistidae: Elachistinae)

The authors give a redescription of the recently rediscovered Elachista trifasciata on St Helena Island and provide information about the habitat and biology of this endemic species. For conservation reasons, the area with the food plant of the monophagous larva, Carex dianae, should be extended in the Central Ridge area. Elachista trifasciata is considered to be sensitive to climate changes.

The occurrence of mobulid rays at St Helena Island, Cardno seamount and Bonaparte seamount in the South Atlantic and its significance for conservation

Data from 369 sightings of mobulid rays from St Helena Island, Cardno and Bonaparte seamounts in the South Atlantic are summarised. 50 % (183) of sightings were observed from a boat, 48 % (176) of sightings were encountered in water, of which 95 % (168) were whilst actively scuba diving. 2 % (10) of mobulid ray sightings were observed from land. Sightings data indicate that the Chilean devil ray Mobula tarapacana (Philippi, 1892) is a frequent visitor to St Helena and is present all year. We document the first photographic evidence of the presence of oceanic manta, Mobula birostris (Walbaum, 1792) at St Helena. Two solitary individuals were photographed off the north coast of St Helena in June 2018. These sightings confirm previous unverified reports on the species occurrence and extend the known distribution range of M. birostris in the open South Atlantic Ocean to 16°S.

Description of the larva of Helenoscoparia nigritalis (Walker, 1855) (Pyraloidea: Crambidae: Scopariinae)

The authors describe the recently discovered larva of Helenoscoparia nigritalis from St Helena Island and provide information on external appearance, chaetotaxy, habitats and biology. The larva is compared with those of two European species: Scoparia ambigualis (after the description in Smith, 2004) and Eudonia lacustrata (after original material).

Redescriptions of Neanthes Kinberg, 1865 (Annelida: Errantia: Nereididae) species from worldwide regions

The present study redescribes four species of Neanthes Kinberg, 1865 (Nereididae de Blainville, 1818) based on their type specimens collected from different worldwide localities: Neanthes chilkaensis (Southern, 1921) from India, N. galetae (Fauchald, 1977) from Panama, N. helenae (Kinberg, 1865) from St Helena Island, and N. mossambica (Day, 1957) from Mozambique. The morphology of the types was re-examined for the first time after the species were originally described, and incorporated the recent improvements in the standards and terminology for describing nereidid features. The arrangement of paragnaths on area VI stood out among the diagnostic features used to distinguish these four species. Neanthes chilkaensis and N. helenae are the unique nereidids bearing p-bar paragnaths on the area VI. Both species are also distinctive as the former species only exhibited p-bar paragnaths on the area VII–VIII and the latter ventrolateral projections on the apodous segment. Further examination revealed that N. nanciae (Day, 1949) from St Helena is a junior synonym of N. helenae. Moreover, N. galetae and N. mossambica are distinguishable from other species also by the development of dorsal cirri, neuropodial postchaetal lobe and ventral ligule, the presence/absence of merged paragnaths on area IV, paired oesophageal caeca, among other features. This study has further contributed to the morphological delimitation of the species in Neanthes as a first step towards revising the genus.

Developing an Ecological Risk Assessment to Effectively Manage Marine Resources in Data-Limited Locations: A Case Study for St Helena Sand Extraction

Maritime states are faced with the challenge of effectively managing their marine spaces to use resources sustainably, maximise economic potential and simultaneously protect their marine environments. Anthropogenic activities, whether in isolation or combination, all have effects on the natural environment. Each of these effects has a footprint in time and space. Assessing the distribution and intensity of human activities and their effects on marine biodiversity, and all other human uses and users is necessary for effective spatial planning, as well as to harmonise conservation with sustainable development. Assessing and managing combined pressures from human activities can be achieved using risk assessment and risk management processes. There are multiple examples of environmental risk assessments which propose a similar formula. However, standardised approaches to ecological risk assessment in data-limited locations that relate to sand extraction are limited. Also most assessments require a certain level of information to produce meaningful outcomes, that enable subsequent management action to appropriately reflect the identified level of risk. Here we outline an approach to assess the risk to the marine environment of sand extraction activity within the Exclusive Economic Zone and Marine Protected Area of St Helena Island in the Atlantic. The proposed risk assessment tool has supported the development of a sand extraction management strategy on St Helena, and will be used to inform future management plans and policies that allow anthropogenic activities to take place in a way that balances local management, monitoring and enforcement capability, in line with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Category VI designation. Both the tool and strategy promote sustainable use of resources and protection of the marine environment, which are key objectives stated in the St Helena Marine Management Plan.

‘Opening up to the World’: An Exploration of Residents’ Opinions on and Perceptions of St Helena Island’s Tourism Development

St Helena Island, often regarded as one of the most remote places on earth, is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom and generally considered geographically as ‘part’ of Africa. Economically, the island is wholly dependent on British aid. Once important as a stop for trading ships for some 400 years, the island has suffered the same problems faced by many other small island economies: a lack of natural resources, diseconomies of scale, net outmigration, and a dependence on aid and remittances. Tourism has been earmarked as an important sector which has the potential to contribute significantly to the economy of St Helena, especially after the completion of the St Helena Airport. The purpose of this research reported here was to determine the level of tourism development on St Helena since its ‘opening up’ to the world after the first passenger flight touched down in 2017, by applying Butler’s tourism area life cycle model and Doxey’s irridex model. These models provided the framework for qualitatively determining the level of tourism development. An e-survey was conducted among residents about their expectations of tourism development. St Helena has been trapped in the involvement stage for decades while being inhibited by its remoteness and accessibility issues. It is clear from the evidence that some of the island’s tourism characteristics relate to the involvement stage, whereas others are synonymous with the development stage. It is thus reasonable to argued that St Helena currently lies in a flux between the involvement and development stages of the Butler model. The opening of the airport is conceivably the springboard necessary for leaving behind all the impeding features of the involvement stage.

Sharing the waterways

This research examines the role that fear of sharks has played in the history of St Helena Island Moreton Bay, Queensland through analysis of historical records, newspapers, photographs and literature. The article begins with Aboriginal histories of St Helena Island, colonial settlement of the region and the building of a quarantine station. An exploration of the ways in which settlers’ fear of sharks supported the detention of prisoners in the St Helena Island Penal Establishment follows. The research finds that the warders’ shark-proof swimming enclosure on St Helena Island (1916) records a time when Queensland communities were first seeking to manage the recreational demands of swimmers in the context of a growing public fear of sharks.

The origin of the giant ground beetleAplothorax burchellion St Helena Island

AbstractSome highly isolated oceanic islands harbour endemic ground beetles that have lost the ability to fly. Here, we investigated the origin of the possibly extinct flightless giant ground beetle Aplothorax burchelli on St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. Aplothorax burchelli was initially considered to be a member of the subtribe Calosomina (=genus Calosoma) of the subfamily Carabinae (Coleoptera: Carabidae) closely related to the genus Ctenosta (=Calosoma subgenus Ctenosta), but this proposition was questioned due to its unique external and genital morphology. We conducted a phylogenetic analysis of mitogenome sequences using historical specimens of A. burchelli and samples of representative species of Carabinae. Our analysis of 13 protein-coding gene sequences revealed that A. burchelli is definitely a member of Calosomina, most closely related to a species of Ctenosta. Further analysis using NADH dehydrogenase subunit 5 gene sequences from most groups in Calosomina showed that A. burchelli formed a monophyletic group with Ctenosta species from Africa and Madagascar. Our results suggest that the ancestor of A. burchelli, which had the ability to fly, colonized St Helena from Africa after the emergence of the island 14 Mya, and has since undergone evolutionary changes in conjunction with loss of flight.

The fishes of St Helena Island, central Atlantic Ocean-new records and an annotated check-list.

A check-list of the fishes of St Helena Island is presented. The following species are recorded for the first time from St. Helena Island: Rhincodon typus, Mobula tarapacana, Muraena melanotis, Caranx latus, Seriola rivoliana, Balistes capriscus, Lutjanus jocu, Centropyge aurantonotus, Acanthurus coeruleus, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum, Tetrapturus pfluegeri, Coelorinchus geronimo, Pentaceros richardsoni, Gephyroberyx darwinii, Brotula cf multibarbata, Poromitra crassiceps, Echiostoma barbatum, Malacosteus niger, Pachystomias microdon. Including these nineteen new records there are 189 fish species currently known from St Helena. Three of them appear to be undescribed. Eight species and two subspecies are currently considered endemic to St. Helena Island.

First recorded breeding attempt of Redfooted Booby Sula sula on St Helena Island, South Atlantic

Red-footed Boobies Sula sula are a wide ranging species that used to have a significant breeding population on both Ascension and St Helena Island in the South Atlantic. It was thought that only a small remnant population existed at Ascension Island until now. Five breeding attempts on the southern coastal windward side of St Helena by white morph Red-footed Boobies were recorded using an infra-red motion sensitive camera during 2014–2015. Of the minimum of nine eggs laid, none hatched suggesting more than one female was involved in nesting efforts and they were infertile and/or inexperienced breeders. Theories as to where these birds may have come from are discussed.

Using an ‘Interpretative Model’ for Contextual Design of Heritage Landscape Databases: The Case of St Helena Island National Park in Queensland, Australia

AbstractDue to the increasing speed of landscape changes and the massive development of computer technologies, the methods of representing heritage landscapes using digital tools have become a worldwide concern in conservation research. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate how an ‘interpretative model’ can be used for contextual design of heritage landscape information systems. This approach is explored through building a geographic information system database for St Helena Island national park in Moreton Bay, South East Queensland, Australia. Stakeholders' interpretations of this landscape were collected through interviews, and then used as a framework for designing the database. The designed database is a digital inventory providing contextual descriptions of the historic infrastructure remnants on St Helena Island. It also reveals the priorities of different sites in terms of historic research, landscape restoration, and tourism development. Additionally, this database produces thematic maps of the intangible heritage values, which could be used for landscape interpretation. This approach is different from the existing methods because building a heritage information system is deemed as an interpretative activity, rather than a value‐free replication of the physical environment. This approach also shows how a cultural landscape methodology can be used to create a flexible information system for heritage conservation. The conclusion is that an ‘interpretative model’ of database design facilitates a more explicit focus on information support, and is a potentially effective approach to user‐centred design of geographic information systems.

English

Experimental gillnetting and setlining provided a detailed account of shark and ray composition at three shallow water sites in Moreton Bay between 2004 and 2007 (n=350 elasmobranchs). The species composition of elasmobranchs significantly differed between sites and shark abundance was highest at the western site (St Helena Island, Waterloo Bay). Juvenile Dusky (Carcharhinus obscurus) and Pigeye Sharks (C. amboinensis) were more abundant at the western site and appear to be rare in the eastern bay. Approximately 8% of the 206 tagged sharks were recaptured, 60% within two kilometres from their release position, with time at liberty ranging from four to 402 days. The results suggest that the documented east-west gradient in teleost diversity in Moreton Bay also extends to the Carcharhinidae. Further research is recommended to determine whether the diversity patterns observed from the three sites are broadly representative of each of these regions. Setlining and rod and line fishing for sharks in a deeper part of the bay between 1978 and 1992 (n=440 elasmobranchs) revealed a different species composition. The Spottail Shark (C. sorrah) and the Spinner Shark (C. brevipinna) comprised 50% and 39% of the catch in this deeper site, respectively, but were rarely caught in shallow regions of the bay, suggesting that the species composition is also partitioned by depth. Western fringes of the bay have been heavily modified by anthropogenic activities and the importance of this area to juvenile whaler sharks needs to be considered. Future sampling at the same fixed locations may provide the opportunity to examine whether recent re-zoning of the Marine Bay Marine Park in 2009, or other factors such as changes in commercial or recreational fishing, have influenced the species composition and abundance of sharks.

Shallow-water scleractinian corals of Ascension Island, Central South Atlantic

The presence of five shallow-water scleractinian species at Ascension Island is confirmed, i.e. Favia gravida, Madracis sp., Siderastrea radians, Polycyathus atlanticus and Rhizosmilia gerdae. The three former are zooxanthellate, the two latter azooxanthellate. A sixth species, Cladocora debilis (azooxanthellate), dredged from moderately deep water is also expected to occur in shallow water. Madracis sp. and P. atlanticus are new records for the island. A previous record of Astrangia solitaria at Ascension is now referred to as P. atlanticus. Favia gravida, S. radians and C. debilis are amphi-Atlantic. Rhizosmilia gerdae is currently known only from Ascension Island and the Western Atlantic. None of the species are endemic to Ascension Island. No member of the family Dendrophylliidae has as yet been found at Ascension, whereas that family is represented at its nearest neighbour, St Helena Island.