公益財団法人 日本鳥類保護連盟は野鳥をはじめとする野生生物の保護と普及啓発を目的とする団体です。

　　　　　　　　　　　International Group Project is funded by AEON Environmental Foundation.

Significance

According to field surveys we understand little terns to migrate north and south but due to their small size and the large weight of the GPS units we could not mount the devices to them thus there remain uncertainties regarding a detailed migration route.  In order to protect a migratory species conservation of their breeding areas and wintering areas is only natural, we must also protect their feeding areas during the migration which ultimately become their stopover sites.  To a species that travels thousands of kilometers between hemispheres, an adequate stopover site is of dire importance in conserving their energy.  Currently at the Japanese Society for the Preservation of Birds we are investigating the Asia-Oceania migration routes but there are multiple populations and even more interchanging migratory routes.  To protect the little tern species we must learn which populations are moving to what direction and we must have a global cooperative network.  This calls for us to start the important task of studying the European population ecology as well.  By doing this we place attention and raise consciousness on the importance of conserving wintering sites, stopover sites, etc. throughout the world.  If we make Lithuania a starting point to understanding the migratory routes of the European populations, then compare the northern hemisphere group to all of the Eurasian group and ultimately to the Japanese group we just might be able to protect the species.

Method

In order to investigate the migratory route we capture the adults during breeding season and attach a geolocator.　A geolocator is a data logging device which records light intensity and time.　Recorded data is then used to calculate sunrise and sunset times which will ultimately give us the latitude and longtitudinal coordinates that allows us to track their movements.


2014 Lithuania Group Project Report
2015 Lithuania Group Project Report
2016 Lithuania Group Project Report