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Desecheo Island, Puerto Rico Island Conservation - preventing extinctions
BRB
Available Online
Desecheo Island supports important populations of plants, as well as animals found nowhere else in the world such as the Desecheo Anole, Desecheo Ameiva, and Desecheo Dwarf Gecko. Before the introduction of invasive rats, the island hosted large colonies of breeding seabirds, including the world’s largest Brown Booby colony and an important Red-footed Booby colony. But, due to the destruction of native vegetation and predation on eggs and chicks by these invasive rats, seabirds no longer nest on Desecheo and many plants and animals are threatened. Island Conservation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working together to remove invasive rats from Desecheo Island. With the island free of invasive species, native plants and animals will once again be able to thrive in their natural habitat. Coral reefs in the Marine Reserve surrounding Desecheo (managed by the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources) are also expected to benefit from the island’s restoration; increased vegetation will reduce soil erosion into the sea, and the seabirds will provide valuable nutrients to the adjacent marine ecosystems.
Seabird islands take mere decades to recover following rat eradication
BRB
Available Online

Jones, Holly P.

2010
Islands house a majority of the world’s biodiversity and are thus critical for biodiversity conservation. Seabird nesting colonies provide nutrients that are integral to maintain island biodiversity and ecosystem function. Invasive rats destroy seabird colonies and thus the island ecosystems that depend on seabird-derived nutrients. After rat eradication, it is unclear how long ecosystem recovery may take, although some speculate on the order of centuries. I looked at ecosystem recovery along a chronosequence of islands that had 12–22 years to recover following rat eradication. I show that soil, plant, and spider marine-derived nitrogen levels and C:N ratios take mere decades to recover even after centuries-long rat invasion. Moreover, active seabird restoration could speed recovery even further, giving much hope to quickly conserve many endemic species on islands worldwide.
Invasive rat eradication strongly impacts plant recruitment on a tropical atoll
BRB
Available Online

Croll, Donald A.

,

Dirzo, Rodolfo.

,

Holmes, Nick D.

,

Kropidlowski, Stefan.

,

McKown, Matthew.

,

Tershy, Bernie R.

,

Wegmann, Alexander S.

,

Wolf, Coral A.

,

Young, Hillary S.

,

Zilliacus, Kelly M.

2018
Rat eradication has become a common conservation intervention in island ecosystems and its effectiveness in protecting native vertebrates is increasingly well documented. Yet, the impacts of rat eradication on plant communities remain poorly understood. Here we compare native and non-native tree and palm seedling abundance before and after eradication of invasive rats (Rattus Rattus) from Palmyra Atoll, Line Islands, Central Pacific Ocean. Overall, seedling recruitment increased for five of the six native trees species examined. While pre-eradication monitoring found no seedlings of Pisonia grandis, a dominant tree species that is important throughout the Pacific region, post-eradication monitoring documented a notable recruitment event immediately following eradication, with up to 688 individual P. grandis seedlings per 100m2 recorded one month post-eradication. Two other locally rare native trees with no observed recruitment in pre-eradication surveys had recruitment post-rat eradication. However, we also found, by five years post-eradication, a 13-fold increase in recruitment of the naturalized and range-expanding coconut palm Cocos nucifera. Our results emphasize the strong effects that a rat eradication can have on tree recruitment with expected long-term effects on canopy composition. Rat eradication released nonnative C. nucifera, likely with long-term implications for community composition, potentially necessitating future management interventions. Eradication, nevertheless, greatly benefited recruitment of native tree species. If this pattern persists over time, we expect long-term benefits for flora and fauna dependent on these native species.
Direct and indirect effects of rats: does rat eradication restore ecosystem functioning of New Zealand seabird islands?
BRB
Available Online

Christa P H Mulder ? M Nicole Grant-Hoffman ? David R Towns ? Peter J Bellingham ? David A Wardle ? Melody S Durrett ? Tadashi Fukami ? Karen I Bonner

Introduced rats (Rattus spp.) can affect island vegetation structure and ecosystem functioning, both directly and indirectly (through the reduction of seabird populations). The extent to which structure and function of islands where rats have been eradicated will converge on uninvaded islands remains unclear. We compared three groups of islands in New Zealand: islands never invaded by rats, islands with rats, and islands on which rats have been controlled. Differences between island groups in soil and leaf chemistry and leaf production were largely explained by burrow densities. Community structure of woody seedlings differed by rat history and burrow density. Plots on islands with high seabird densities had themost non-native plant species. Sincemost impacts of rats were mediated through seabird density, the removal of rats without seabird recolonization is unlikely to result in a reversal of these processes. Even if seabirds return, a novel plant community may emerge.
Beyond Kapiti - A decade of invasive rodent eradications from New Zealand islands.
BRB
Available Online

Keith Broome

New Zealand, an archipelago of more than 2000 islands, has a terrestrial fauna especially depauperate in native land mammals. Kiore (Rattus exulans) was the first of four rodent species introduced by people. A project to eradicate invasive rats from Kapiti Island in 1996, represented a turning point in the technology, complexity and scale at which managers of natural heritage on New Zealand islands could operate. This paper includes case studies of some significant projects targeting rodents, sometimes with other introduced mammals, undertaken in the 12 years following Kapiti. Details of the methods, costs, results and outcomes are provided for Kapiti, Whenua Hou, Tuhua, Campbell, Raoul, Hauturu, Taukihepa, and Pomona islands, collectively representing a total of over 23,000 ha of habitat cleared of introduced mammals. Research and trials undertaken in the Kapiti project provided the basis for future environmental risk assessments, allowing other projects to focus on knowledge gaps. New trends in invasive species eradication in New Zealand include more challenging multi-species eradication projects, some of which are undertaken by self- funded community groups. To summarise the lessons of the New Zealand experience: a programmatic approach is recommended which will fit each eradication within a context or framework of goals for those islands; address biosecurity issues at the outset; build capability to attempt the most challenging and rewarding projects; facilitate investment in monitoring and manage expectations of stakeholders to ensure their ongoing support. Success breeds success but is never guaranteed.
Social assessment of inhabited islands for wildlife management and eradication
BRB
Available Online

Aley, Joanne P.

,

Russell, James C.

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Taylor, Nicholas C.

2017
Eradication of introduced species from inhabited islands requires consideration of both technical and social feasibility. Historically, biologists have struggled to engage successfully in the social components of eradication planning. Island communities have unique features that require consideration in eradication planning. Social impact assessment is a powerful planning tool used widely outside of wildlife management. We outline the core components of a social impact assessment as it could be applied to eradication planning on inhabited islands. We summarise previous experience in social impact assessment and community engagement for introduced predator eradication on inhabited islands, and as an example develop a social profile for inhabited islands of the Hauraki Gulf of New Zealand. We conclude that social impact assessment has great potential to improve eradication feasibility assessment, and should be applied routinely in eradication scoping on inhabited islands.
Eradicating Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) from Nu'utele and Nu'ulua Islands, Samoa - some of the challenges of operating in the tropcial Pacific
BRB
Available Online

Butler, D.J.

,

Tipamaa, F.T.

,

Tye, A.

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Wylie, M.

2011
The restoration of the small offshore islands of Nu’utele (108ha) and Nu’ulua (25ha) has long been identified as a priority for biodiversity conservation in Samoa. The first step towards restoration was the aerial spreading of brodifacoum to eradicate Pacific rats (Rattus exulans) in August 2009. Procedures for the eradication followed those used in New Zealand and involved technical experts from that country. Particular challenges included a tight operational time-frame (two months), technical problems magnified by the remote location, variable reliability of weather forecasting,working with the local community, and mitigating rodenticide exposure risks for the friendly ground-dove (Gallicolumba stairi) (IUCN: vulnerable). Solutions to these challenges are discussed as guidance for similar projects in remote island locations. Follow-up monitoring between August 2009 and March 2010 indicated that the eradication had been successful, but Pacific rats were detected on Nu’utele in May 2011. Nu’ulua has yet to be rechecked in 2011. DNA analyses are being organised to determine if these rats are survivors or re-invaders.
Improving invasive ant eradication as a conservation tool : a review
BRB
Available Online

Hoffman, Benjamin ... et al.

2016
While invasive species eradications are at the forefront of biodiversity conservation, ant eradication failures are common. We reviewed ant eradications worldwide to assess the practice and identify knowledge gaps and challenges. We documented 316 eradication campaigns targeting 11 species, with most occurring in Australia covering small areas (b10 ha). Yellow crazy ant was targeted most frequently, while the bigheaded ant has been eradicated most often. Of the eradications with known outcomes, 144 campaigns were successful, totaling approximately 9500 ha, of which 8300 ha were from a single campaign that has since been partially re-invaded. Three active ingredients, often in combination, are most commonly used: fipronil, hydramethylnon, and juvenile hormone mimics. Active ingredient, bait, and method varied considerablywith respect to species targeted,which made assessing factors of eradication success challenging. We did, however, detect effects by active ingredient, number of treatments, and method on eradication success. Implementation costs increased with treatment area, and median costs were high compared to invasive mammal eradications. Ant eradications are in a phase of increased research and development, and a logical next step for practitioners is to develop best practices. A number of research themes that seek to integrate natural history with eradication strategies and methodologies would improve the ability to eradicate ants: increasing natural history and taxonomic knowledge, increasing the efficacy of active ingredients and baits, minimizing and mitigating non-target risks, developing better tools to declare eradication success, and developing alternative eradication methodologies. Invasive ant eradications are rapidly increasing in both size and frequency, and we envisage that eradicating invasive ants will increase in focus in coming decades given the increasing dispersal and subsequent impacts.
Prevention, Eradication and Containment of Invasive Species: Illustrations from Hawaii
BRB

Burnett, Kimberly

,

Kaiser, Brooks

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Pitafi, Basharat A.

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Roumasset, James

Invasive species change ecosystems and the economic services such ecosystems provide. Optimal policy will minimize the expected damages and costs of prevention and control. We seek to explain policy outcomes as a function of biological and economic factors, using the case of Hawaii to illustrate. First, we consider an existing invasion, Miconia calvescens, a plant with the potential to reduce biodiversity, soil cover, and water availability. We then examine an imminent threat, the potential arrival of the Brown Treesnake (Boiga irregularis). The arrival of the snake to Guam has led to native bird extirpations, power outages, and health costs.
Removing Rodents from Small Islands Final Report on a Capacity Development Workshop completed in Tonga
Island and Ocean Ecosystems, BRB
Available Online

Espinosa, Irene

,

Griffiths, Richard

2015
Days 1 and 2 of the workshop course exposed participants to the theory behind rodent eradications (Fig 1). The nature and importance of undertaking a project feasibility assessment was explained and the key questions that need to be answered to determine if a project is feasible were discussed.  

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