Dr Helen Temple

Email: helen at thebiodiversityconsultancy.com


After completing her PhD in the Department of Zoology in
2005, Helen worked for IUCN’s Species Programme where
she was responsible for coordinating the European Red List.
Since 2009 she has been Principal Consultant at The
Biodiversity Consultancy Ltd.
 
Research
 
PhD research: Ecology, Cooperative breeding and Conservation of the White-breasted Thrasher Ramphocinclus brachyurus

The White-breasted Thrasher is a medium-sized, sexually monomorphic passerine which lives in small family groups on year-round territories in dry woodland on the West Indian islands of St Lucia and Martinique. It had never previously been studied in detail, and was only discovered in 2002 to be a cooperative breeder. From 2002-2004 it was the subject of a Cambridge University / BirdLife International research project led by Helen Temple. The thrasher is of interest both because of its cooperative behaviour and its threatened status – the White-breasted Thrasher is classed as ‘Endangered’, with an estimated global population of c.1,300 breeding adults (Temple 2005), and a total range of 13 km2.

The project involved investigation of the range, status, habitat requirements, breeding biology, demography and reproductive behaviour of the White-breasted Thrasher at field sites on the east coast of St Lucia. A small amount of comparative work was carried out on Martinique. In addition to this fieldwork, microsatellite genotyping was used to investigate the genetic structure of groups and populations. The global population of White-breasted Thrashers is c.1,300 breeding adults occupying a total range of c. 13 km2. In the northern part of St Lucia, the population has apparently declined by more than 50% since 1971. White-breasted Thrashers are habitat-restricted, being found only in closed-canopy dry scrub, dry woodland, and areas transitional between the coastal dry woodland and the rainforest of the interior. White-breasted Thrashers live in groups of 2–4 adults (mean 2.4) and cooperate to raise 1–3 clutches of 1–3 eggs per year. Breeding occurs during the rainy season, from April to September. Mayfield nest success was within the typical range for tropical passerines, at 37%, and annual survival was high. Breeding success correlated with group size, but this seemed to be due to improved predator defence, since cooperative groups did not provision at a greater rate than unassisted pairs. Predation was the principal cause of nest failure, with Boa Constrictors Boa constrictor orophias being the most frequently-recorded predator of nests. White-breasted Thrasher groups are made up of a dominant breeding pair and 0–2 helpers of both sexes that are previous offspring of the dominant pair. Rates of extra-group paternity are low (6%) and within-group sharing was not recorded in this study. Juvenile males are philopatric whereas juvenile females disperse over longer distances: this leads to a very strong fine-scale genetic substructuring of the male (but not female) population, with high levels of relatedness (c. 0.25) between nearest-neighbour dominant males. The main cause of the White-breasted Thrasher’s decline is habitat loss, and conservation measures should focus on habitat protection and restoration

Since 2005, a significant proportion of the thrasher’s range (including the main field site at which this study was carried out) has been lost as the result of the construction of a resort and golf course. Ongoing monitoring of the thrasher population is being carried out by the St Lucia Forestry Department in collaboration with the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust. 


White-breasted Thrasher,
Ramphocinclus brachyurus




Boa constrictor - number one nest predator of thrashers.




Gruelling fieldwork on St Lucia
 
Publications
 

Peer-reviewed papers and book chapters:

  • Temple H.J. and Terry A. 2009. European Mammals: Status, trends and conservation priorities. Folia Zoologica.

  • Young R.P., Baptiste T.J., Dornelly A., Temple H.J., Whitehead, H., Young, G. & Morton M.N. 2009. Potential impacts of tourist developments in St Lucia on the Endangered White-breasted Thrasher Ramphocinclus brachyurus. Bird Conservation International.

  • Temple H.J., Hoffman J. I. & Amos W. 2009. Group structure, mating system and extra-group paternity in the White-breasted Thrasher Ramphocinclus brachyurus. Ibis 151: 99-112.

  • Schipper J., Chanson J.S., Chiozza F., Cox N.A., Hoffmann M., Katariya V., Lamoreux J., Rodrigues A.S.L., Stuart S.N., Temple H.J. et al. 2008. The status of the world’s land and marine mammals: diversity, threat, and knowledge. Science 322: 225-230.

  • Temple H. J., Hoffman J. I. & Amos W. 2006. Dispersal, philopatry and inter-group relatedness: fine-scale genetic structure in the White-breasted Thrasher Ramphocinclus brachyurus. Molecular Ecology 15: 3449–3458. Download PDF

  • Jin L., Temple H. J., Hoffman J. I., Shengjiang T. & Amos W. 2006. Polymorphic microsatellite DNA markers for the White-breasted Thrasher, Ramphocinclus brachyurus. Molecular Ecology Notes 3: 862–864.

  • Temple H. J. 2005. Family Dulidae. In: Handbook of Birds of the World Vol. 10 (J. del Hoyo, A. Elliot & D. Christie, eds.). Lynx Edicions, Barcelona.

Conference papers and posters (selected):

  • Cuttelod A., Abdulla A., Abdul Malak D., Carpenter K., Cavanagh R., Gibson C., Gomei M., Livingstone S., Sanciangco J. & Temple H. 2008. Evaluating the conservation status of Mediterranean marine fish and identifying conservation priorities. World Conference on Marine Biodiversity, 11-15 November 2008, Valencia, Spain [poster]

  • Temple, H. & Terry, A. 2007. Mammals in Europe: Status, trends and conservation priorities. 5th European Congress of Mammalogy, 21-26 September 2007, Siena, Italy. [oral presentation]

  • Temple, H. 2003. Conservation status of the White-breasted Thrasher Ramphocinclus brachyurus. Society for the Conservation and Study of Caribbean Birds Conference, Tobago, 2003. [oral presentation]

Other publications (selected):

  • Temple, H.J. & Cuttelod, A. 2009. The status and distribution of Mediterranean mammals. IUCN Gland, Switzerland.

  • Temple, H.J. & Cox, N.A. 2009. European Red List of Amphibians. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

  • Cox, N.A. & Temple, H.J. 2009. European Red List of Reptiles. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

  • Cuttelod, A., García, N., Abdul Malak, D., Temple, H. & Katariya, V. 2008. The Mediterranean: a biodiversity hotspot under threat. In: J.-C. Vié, C. Hilton-Taylor and S.N. Stuart (eds). The 2008 Review of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN Gland, Switzerland.

  • Temple H.J. and Terry A. 2007. The status and distribution of European mammals. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.

  • Temple H. J. 2003. The Dulidae. In: Encyclopaedia of Birds (C. Perrins, ed.). Andromeda Oxford Ltd., Oxford.

Websites and online databases:

Helen Temple
 
Research
Publications
 
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EJ, U. K.