Passive recovery of an island bird community after rodent eradication

Croll, Donald A.; Newton, Kelly; McKown, Matthew W.; Holmes, Nick D.; Williams, Jeffrey C.; Young, Hillary S.; Buckelew, Stacey; Wolf, Coral A.; Howald, Gregg R.; Bock, Milagra F.; Curl, Jennifer A.; Tershy, Bernie R.

doi:10.1007/s10530-015-1042-9

Cited by 27 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…for 50-100 generations of Pacific Wrens. The initial and cumulative effects on population size and genetic diversity are unknown, but Pacific Wren population size did not change significantly after the experimental eradication of rats from an island in the Aleutians (Croll et al 2016). This suggests that rat predation may have a negligible impact on Pacific Wrens.…”

Section: Genetic Rescue and Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although predation of nesting seabirds by rats has been identified as a major management problem by the USFWS (Buckelew et al 2011), rats are much more difficult to eradicate. An experimental rat removal effort on a small island in the central Aleutian Islands led to population increases of some bird species (Croll et al 2016), suggesting that rats continue to have negative impacts on many Aleutian bird populations. Populations of several unique subspecies of landbirds might also be targets of rat predation, including one of the most phenotypically variable species in Alaska, the Pacific Wren (Troglodytes pacificus).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Genetic Structure of the Common Eider in the Western Aleutian Islands Prior to Fox Eradication

et al. 2013

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Section: Genetic Rescue and Conservation Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Structure of the Common Eider in the Western Aleutian Islands Prior to Fox Eradication

et al. 2013

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“…From a conservation perspective, this creates a strong incentive to eradicate these non-native rodents from islands. Past rodent eradications have mostly been successful at removing the target species from the ecosystem (Howald et al 2007) and have resulted in subsequent ecological recoveries (Aguirre-Muñoz et al 2008, Croll et al 2016, Jones et al 2016. Unfortunately, eradication is a complex process that comes with a long set of problems and complications, many of which are the result of the most common eradication method that involves exposing islands to chemical toxicants (Campbell et al 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic engineering to eradicate invasive mice on islands: modeling the efficiency and ecological impacts

Backus

Gross

2016

Ecosphere

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Citation: Backus, G. A., and K. Gross. 2016. Genetic engineering to eradicate invasive mice on islands: modeling the efficiency and ecological impacts. Ecosphere 7(12):e01589. 10.1002/ecs2.1589Abstract. Invasive rodents are usually eradicated from islands through the application of chemical toxicants that can harm surrounding ecosystems. A recently proposed alternative involves engineering a house mouse (Mus musculus) to carry a genetic construct that would cause a majority of its offspring to be male, many of which would be sterile. Releasing these genetically engineered mice to interbreed with an invasive population would reduce the number of fertile female mice until no more remain. We constructed a mathematical model to analyze the population dynamics of eradication with this genetically engineered mouse and determined its eradication efficiency through model analysis and simulations. Because genetically engineered mice would likely have a fitness disadvantage compared to wild mice, we found that they would need to be repeatedly released into the population to ensure complete eradication. However, if genetically engineered mice have a substantial survival advantage, we determined that the genetic construct could theoretically spread and eradicate a population after a single pulsed release onto the target island or after an engineered mouse escapes to a non-target location. Also, while the species specificity of genetic engineering avoids some of the non-target impacts of traditional eradication methods, ecological impacts could manifest indirectly. We compared several metrics to estimate potential transient impacts on the ecosystem and found that there is a trade-off between the speed of an eradication and the intensity of increased disruptive ecological interactions. Together, our results can inform safe and efficient ecological practices for eradication with developing genetic engineering technology.

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“…Furthermore, the colonial nature of most seabirds potentially makes the use of passive acoustic monitoring a cost-effective tool, increasing efficiency in collecting data across multiple colonies over a large geographical scale, determining species assemblages and numbers, and estimating breeding parameters such as phenology (Borker et al 2015, Frommolt 2017. As a result, passive acoustic monitoring has been used to examine the efficacy of island-population restoration efforts (Buxton & Jones 2012, Croll et al 2016, determine colony attendance (Mckown 2008) and estimate population size (Oppel et al 2014).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic activity across a seabird colony reflects patterns of within‐colony flight rather than nest density

Arneill

Critchley

Wischnewski

et al. 2019

Ibis

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Passive acoustic monitoring is increasingly being used as a cost‐effective way to study wildlife populations, especially those that are difficult to census using conventional methods. Burrow‐nesting seabirds are among the most threatened birds globally, but they are also one of the most challenging taxa to census, making them prime candidates for research into such automated monitoring platforms. Passive acoustic monitoring has the potential to determine presence/absence or quantify burrow‐nesting populations, but its effectiveness remains unclear. We compared passive acoustic monitoring, tape‐playbacks and GPS tracking data to investigate the ability of passive acoustic monitoring to capture unbiased estimates of within‐colony variation in nest density for the Manx Shearwater Puffinus puffinus. Variation in acoustic activity across 12 study plots on an island colony was examined in relation to burrow density and environmental factors across 2 years. As predicted fewer calls were recorded when wind speed was high, and on moon‐lit nights, but there was no correlation between acoustic activity and the density of breeding birds within the plots as determined by tape‐playback surveys. Instead, acoustic indices correlated positively with spatial variation in the in‐colony flight activity of breeding individuals detected by GPS. Although passive acoustic monitoring has enormous potential in avian conservation, our results highlight the importance of understanding behaviour when using passive acoustic monitoring to estimate density and distribution.

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Passive recovery of an island bird community after rodent eradication

Cited by 27 publications

References 25 publications

Genetic Structure of the Common Eider in the Western Aleutian Islands Prior to Fox Eradication

Genetic Structure of the Common Eider in the Western Aleutian Islands Prior to Fox Eradication

Genetic engineering to eradicate invasive mice on islands: modeling the efficiency and ecological impacts

Acoustic activity across a seabird colony reflects patterns of within‐colony flight rather than nest density

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