Eastern American Burying Beetle Reintroduction
A Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Project in New England
Oct 2, 2009
The most successful American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus) reintroduction project to date is being carried out on Nantucket Island led by the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island and the Maria Mitchell Association on the island, under the direction of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Background on the American Burying Beetle Reintroduction Project
This unique species not only plays an important role in the environment, burying small carcasses thereby reducing bacterial contamination, it is also one of the few invertebrates known to feed and nurture their young. Multiple factors have resulted in a critical decline in American burying beetle populations.
With few American burying beetles left in the wild, and those in widely separated areas, it was clear that populations needed to be reintroduced in suitable former habitats. The beetles were first brought to Nantucket in 1994 to take advantage of the isolation of the island, which limited the number of influences on the success of the project.
How the American Burying Beetle Reintroduction Works
Each organization involved in the project plays a very specific role. The US Fish and Wildlife Service manages the project, determining where American burying beetles can be reintroduced.
The Roger Williams Park Zoo, led by Lou Perrotti, the zoo’s Conservation Programs Coordinator, provides facilities and staff for the captive breeding program and leads the reintroduction and research aspects of the program. Lou and his team played an important role in making the American burying beetle the first terrestrial invertebrate to have a Species Survival Plan through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
Perrotti, the AZA Species Survival Plan Coordinator for American burying beetles, showed Suite101 the small room in a Roger Williams Zoo buildings which houses the beetle’s captive breeding program. The entire program’s budget is less than $1000.00 US per year.
Perrotti is quick to point out that cooperation and volunteers go a long way to getting the job done. The Maria Mitchell Association on Nantucket provides ongoing monitoring and outreach, especially between visits from the zoo’s research team. Massachusetts Audubon and the Nantucket Conservation Foundation both welcomed reintroduced American burying beetles on their conservation lands.
Beyond the Nantucket Island American Burying Beetle Reintroduction
In 2011, the American burying beetles on Nantucket Island will no longer be provided with food for breeding season as a final step to determine whether the species can survive on its own in this habitat.
If they are successful, the US Fish and Wildlife Service may consider further New England American Burying Beetle reintroductions. In anticipation of that possibility the Roger Williams Park Zoo is working on beetle surveys with people all across the beetle’s former range. While there is a hope of finding more American Burying Beetles, the surveys also help point the reintroduction program toward the best habitat for further reintroductions.
And Perrotti and his team are also working with USFWS and New Hampshire Fish and Game Department in Concord on reintroducing the Karner Blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis). The Roger Williams Park Zoo sent Perrotti to Panama where he helped set up captive breeding programs for invertebrate species that local endangered frogs need for food, preventing the loss of native invertebrate species while helping ensure endangered frogs survive as researchers tackle chytrid fungal disease.
The American burying beetle reintroduction project even caught the eye of Jane Goodall, who talks about it in her book, “Hope for Animals and Their World”. Perrotti is pleased to see the interest that Goodall’s mention has given to the beetle and expressed hope that more people will recognize the importance of invertebrates in balanced ecosystems.
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