Young Conservationist Documents Wildlife
Luke Foster has spent the past several years documenting Bermuda’s wildlife through thousands of observations.
His interest in the island’s natural environment began at Warwick Academy, where he was a member of the school’s Natural History Club.
Rosalind Windgate, who ran the club, helped develop his interest in wildlife.
Mr Foster later met Dr Miguel Mejias through the club and began going birdwatching.
“I really got into it and bought a better camera and started looking for other things to find – insects, every single living organism,” Mr Foster told Bernews.
Mr Foster — who has earned a scholarship from the Bermuda Zoological Society — began photographing the species he encountered and uploading the images to iNaturalist, an online platform that allows wildlife observations to be shared with scientists and others interested in nature.
He has recorded more than 13,425 observations on iNaturalist, representing 5,293 species of birds, insects, fish and plants.
His photographs include several endemic Bermudian species.
They include the moth Eudarcia haliplancta, the pseudoscorpion Pachyolpium atlanticum, Rhagovelia plumbea, a species of water skater, and Ercolania selva, a species of sacoglossan sea slug, which he spotted crawling across a sunken leaf in Jew’s Bay, Southampton.
“iNaturalist is a science platform, like social media, you can upload images of any living creature you come across,” said Mr Foster, who mostly uses a Nikon D850 and Olympus TG 6 camera.
“It becomes part of this massive database that scientists across the world can access and use your data to help their research.
“I’ve got quite a few records of species in Bermuda that had never been seen on the island before.
“I try to get out as much as I can when I return to the island from university.”
Mr Foster is studying zoology at the University of Leeds and hopes to eventually apply what he has learned to conservation in Bermuda.
“I’d like to bring all that knowledge back to Bermuda one day and help with the conservation work,” he added.
A recent post in the Government’s Envirotalk newsletter read: “One Bermudian, 19-year-old Luke Foster, has recorded over 12,000 records on iNaturalist – the majority of which are from Bermuda. Only a couple of months ago Luke found a genus of fly at Spittal Pond that contains two endemic fly species, helping us to understand the current distribution of these endemics. He has also found new records of the tiny but beautiful sea snail Triphora turtlebayensis, an endemic pseudoscorpion Pachyolpium altlanticum.”
Some of Luke Foster’s impressive photography is below
Read More About
Category: All, Environment, News
Nice work, Luke.
Heres some information about each of the species pictured:
1. Elysia jibacoaenesis, a species of sacoglossan sea slug with incredible camouflage, no wonder it went undetected here for so long. I found this individual under a rock while snorkeling at Church Bay.
2. Pachyolpium atlanticum, a species of Pseudoscorpion endemic to Bermuda (meaning that it is a species unique to Bermuda). This species had not been recorded in over 30 years and had never been photographed alive until my record of it.
3. Cthonioidea sp., a species of pseudoscorpion that is still currently unidentified. However, I have collected a few specimens and they will be formally identified overseas by the end of this year. I found this individual alongside Pachyolpium atlanticum, a species of pseudoscorpion unique to Bermuda that had not been seen in over 30 years!
4. Rhagovelia plumbea, a species of water skater found across the Caribbean and Florida, they skate across the surface of the water and live within mangroves, I have noted this species in several locations across Bermuda, so if you see insects zipping across the surface of the water near mangroves, that is likely Rhagovelia plumbea! The means of how this species arrived in Bermuda is up in the air. Perhaps they were accidentally introduced or skated across the ocean; some species of water skaters spend their entire lives at sea.
5. A Penaeoid Prawn species, drifting amongst the plankton south shore at night.
6. Moddled Sea Hare, Aplysia brasiliana, swimming amongst the sargassum off south shore at night.
7. Sculptured Slipper Lobster Parribaccus antarcticus, I found this individual while lionfish hunting in July, it was yet another species never before seen in Bermuda!
8. Sargassum Swimming Crab, Portinus sayi, swimming amongst the sargassum off south shore at night.
Excellent work Luke!! Thank you for posting the additional information about each creature. Very interesting!