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Obstructionist

"Obstructionist" - Brink Series

Diana Walsworth July 16, 2017

“Obstructionist” - Mariana Crow

Acrylic on Canvas, 14” x 11” x 1.5"

Original Painting: $1,200

Ready-to-Hang, Limited Edition Archival Metal Print: $350.00

Time to Completion: 154 Hours

Ounces of Paint: 26

Custom sizes and materials available for prints. Inquire here.

 

Human Impacts Resulting in Protected Status:

 

Introduction of Non-Native Species:

The Mariana Crow is now extinct in it’s natural Guam habitat, due to predation by the Brown Tree Snake.  The Brown Tree Snake was likely introduced to Guam by the U.S. Military in the 1940’s as accidental military cargo stowaways. Fortunately, the Brown Tree Snake has not made it to the island of Rota, where the Mariana Crow still maintains a wild population.

Around the same time, the Black Drongo bird was introduced to Guam in order to help control insect populations. The Black Drongo now competes with the Mariana Crow for natural habitat.

Feral Cats are the leading cause of death for first-year Mariana Crows. The high mortality rates of first-year Mariana Crows is the leading driver of the overall population decline.

 

Habitat Destruction:

On the island of Rota, the Mariana Crow’s forest habitat is devastated by typhoons, homesteads, golf course and resort development, and agricultural expansion.

Researchers have found that the Mariana Crow’s nesting success rates are much greater in undisturbed, native forest habitats than those forest areas in more disturbed areas, or areas close to human activity, suggesting that the Mariana Crow populations are especially susceptible to human encroachment.

The Mariana Crow’s natural distribution lies primarily on low-lying islands that are susceptible to climate change, such as rising sea levels, increased typhoons, and shifts in suitable climatic conditions.


 

Conservation Efforts:

 

Control Programs:

 

In 2012, a cat control program was launched on the island of Rota, focusing on natural breeding areas for the Mariana Crow.  Radio-telemetry and mark-resight data show that the survival rate of first-year Marian Crows has significantly increased.

In Guam, the Mariana Crow nest-sites are protected by electric tree barriers, which help to keep snakes and lizards from eating the eggs and young. There are stringent measures to prevent the invasive Brown Tree Snake from spreading to the island of Rota from Guam.

 

Habitat Protection, Reintroduction & Education:

On the island of Rota, conservationists and local authorities are vigilant about persecuting those who illegally encroach on the Mariana Crow’s natural forest habitat.

Over the past few years, the Mariana Crow has been successfully reintroduced to parts of Northern Guam.  In 2016, the reintroduction programs began harvesting Mariana Crow eggs and nestlings from the wild and rearing them in captivity.  Once the Mariana Crows reached about 2 years of age, they were released.

Conservationists are working to implement education programs that aim to increase awareness of the Mariana Crow’s plight.  The education programs plan to incorporate a monetary compensation system for land owners, so they are incentivised to maintain the natural habitat of the Mariana Crow, rather than convert the land for other uses.

 

Profits:

Profits will go to The Institute for Wildlife Studies, which is working to reduce the impacts of non-native predators by removing them from the Mariana Crow’s core breeding habitats.  The reduction in predators should result in greater fledgling success and an overall decrease predation of the Mariana Crow.  The Institute for Wildlife Studies uses motion sensor trail cameras to monitor predator movements and to help track the removal efforts of those predators.  The Institute for Wildlife Studies will be implementing a video camera program, which will help to track active Mariana Crow nests.

 

Source[s]:  

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, 2016

Pacific Islands Fish and Wildlife Office, 2012

The Institute for Wildlife Studies, 2016

 

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