Marlenne Adriana Rodriguez Malagon of Baja California is the 2006 recipient of the Josephine Daneman Herz International Seabird Fellowship

Marlenne is an employee of  Mexico’s branch of the organization Island Conservation.  As a recipient of the Herz fellowship she spent the summer of 2006, participating in the work of Audubon’s Seabird Restoration Program in mid-coast Maine, learning techniques to help Mexican seabirds including auklets, murrelets, albatross, and storm-petrels.
           
Rodríguez received her bachelor’s degree in biology from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California.  Her work with Island Conservation involves management of invasive animals and exotic plants on the island of Espíritu Santo.  The organization works to preserve island ecosystems that are vulnerable to introduced species.  It is estimated that 12% of Mexico’s native island birds have gone extinct due to introduced species.
           
She is presently working on her Master’s degree in (major) conservation ecology from Instituto de Ecología, A.C.  Her thesis topic is the seasonal variation in the diet of an introduced rat (Rattus rattus) population on two Gulf of California Islands using stable isotope analysis. Her study will focus on the effects of  rat predation on seabirds before and after removal of the rats from San Pedro Martir and Farallon de San Ignacio islands.  These are important nesting places for Blue footed Booby, Brown Pelicans, Red-billed Tropicbirds and Craveri’s Murrelet. 

To read about ALL of our Herz Fellowship recipients (past and present), please click HERE.