Jaime A. Botet Rodriguez is one of Conservation Nation’s 2022 emerging conservationist grant winners. Originally from Gurabo, Puerto Rico, Jaime holds a B.S. in natural sciences from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus. Currently, he is pursuing a master’s degree in natural resources and environmental management at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
His involvement in several recent projects allowed him to pursue his passion for studying, protecting, and advocating for the coexistence of humans and wildlife. In 2019, he collaborated with biologists from The Peregrine Fund and the grassroots organization Casa Pueblo to research the critically-endangered Puerto Rican sharp-shinned hawk in the central mountains of Puerto Rico. This experience equipped Jaime with new skills, including motion-activated camera trap operation, capture and banding techniques, and tracking methods using radio telemetry equipment and VHF radio transmitters. He also studied the prevalence of blood parasite infections in avian communities across different habitats in the premontane forests of southern Costa Rica. Ultimately, his goal is to implement environmental policies and management practices for communities, endangered species, and their habitats.
Endangered Hawaiian Waterbird Monitoring and Evaluation
Jaime hopes to increase the survival rate of the newly-hatched chicks of three endangered Hawaiian waterbird species: the Hawaiian coot, Hawaiian stilt, and Hawaiian gallinule. He plans to research factors that are critical for the survival of these birds, such as the relationships between predators, habitat characteristics, nesting success, and fledging success of the hatchlings. All three species have precocial chicks—baby birds that leave the nest quickly after hatching—a factor that could make them particularly vulnerable to native and invasive predators in certain habitats. To conduct his research, Jaime will monitor nests with motion-activated cameras and tag hatchlings to determine the average daily nest and chick survival rates. He concedes that the difficulty of marking and resighting chicks, inadequate funding, and lack of personnel were all challenges he had to overcome. However, he is confident that he has developed the skills—and acquired the necessary funding through this grant—for his project to be a success. His research will help guide conservation actions for his project’s focal bird species, including invasive predator removal and habitat restoration efforts.
