Response of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus) to Eradication of Black Rats (Rattus rattus) from Moku‘auia Island after Reinvasion1

Marie, Amarisa; VanderWerf, Eric A.; Young, Lindsay C.; Smith, David G.; Eijzenga, Jakob; Löhr, Michael

doi:10.2984/68.4.8

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Removal and exclusion of all predators, including cats, mongooses, rats, and mice, with a predator fence in 2011 resulted in a dramatic improvement in nest success and reduced annual variation. Other studies have documented increases in wedge‐tailed shearwater numbers and nesting success following rat eradication (Smith et al ; Marie et al ), and similar increases have been seen in Calonectris diomedea (Cory's shearwater) and Puffinis iherminieri (Audubon's shearwater) after rat eradications (Igual et al ; Pascal et al ). There will continue to be some natural variation in nesting success of wedge‐tailed shearwaters caused by inter‐annual variation in oceanographic conditions (Hyrenbach ), but we anticipate that the number of shearwaters nesting at Kaena Point will continue to increase, and possibly accelerate, as the larger cohorts produced after fence construction begin to return and breed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

“…(rats); (Smith et al 2002(Smith et al , 2006. In Hawaii, wedge-tailed shearwaters are abundant on some of the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands and also some small islets off the southeastern Hawaiian Islands, but few nesting colonies exist on the larger islands inhabited by people because of the abundance of alien predators (Harrison 1990;Smith et al 2002;Smith et al 2006;Marie et al 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Increase in Wedge‐tailed Shearwaters and Changes in Soil Nutrients following Removal of Alien Mammalian Predators and Nitrogen‐fixing Plants at Kaena Point, Hawaii

VanderWerf

Young

Crow

et al. 2014

Restoration Ecology

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A predator‐proof fence was built at Kaena Point Natural Area Reserve, Hawaii in 2010 as part of an ecosystem restoration project. All non‐native mammalian predators were removed and are now excluded. Non‐native plants are being removed and native species are being outplanted. We monitored abundance and reproduction of Puffinus pacificus (wedge‐tailed shearwaters), collected soil samples before and after fence construction, and examined the relationship between changes in shearwater numbers and soil nutrients. Shearwater numbers increased over time, from 11 young produced in 1994 to 3,274 in 2012. The average number of shearwaters produced during the 3 years before and after fence construction increased from 614 ± 249 to 2,359 ± 802 (384% increase). The average number of shearwater pairs attempting to nest also increased during the same periods, from 3,265 ± 827 to 4,726 ± 826 (45% increase). Soil samples from 2010 to 2013 showed an overall decline in concentration of ammonium (NH4+) and no change in concentration of nitrate (NO3−) or orthophosphate (PO43−). However, there was a positive relationship between changes in shearwater numbers and changes in ammonium. Examination of spatial patterns in nutrient abundance showed that the highest nutrient concentrations occurred in areas dominated by the non‐native nitrogen‐fixing plants Leucaena leucocephala and Prosopis pallida. Removal of these plants caused local nutrient declines, but increases in shearwater numbers have countered this at some points. We anticipate that shearwaters and other seabirds will replace non‐native plants as the dominant source of nitrogen and phosphorous and facilitate recovery of a native‐dominated plant assemblage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 61%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Increase in Wedge‐tailed Shearwaters and Changes in Soil Nutrients following Removal of Alien Mammalian Predators and Nitrogen‐fixing Plants at Kaena Point, Hawaii

VanderWerf

Young

Crow

et al. 2014

Restoration Ecology

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“…In fact, the dramatic increase in some shearwaters' breeding population immediately following rat eradication (Bourgeois et al 2013;Marie et al 2014;VanderWerf et al 2014) suggested that procellariid seabirds may select their breeding sites according to direct cues. However, we hypothesized that this selection could also be at least partially driven by olfaction (avoidance of burrows 'smelling' of rats), with a predation risk assessment based upon predator chemical cues.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Experiments were conducted in the southern lagoon of New Caledonia, which hosts what is probably one of the world's largest colonies of P. pacificus (Benoit & Bretagnolle 2002). The ship rat can dramatically reduce the breeding success of P. pacificus, as documented on two Hawaiian islands, where the breeding success of birds sharply increased following rat eradication (Smith et al 2006;Marie et al 2014). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anti‐predator behaviour in a procellariid seabird: Wedge‐tailed shearwaters do not respond to the odour of introduced ship rats

et al. 2015

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International audienceSeabirds are particularly vulnerable to introduced alien mammalian predators, especially invasive rats, which are the main contributors to seabird extinction and endangerment in many places worldwide. However, this appears context-dependent because, paradoxically, cases of apparent long-term coexistence between rats and some species of seabird have been reported for centuries, in various locations. Among seabirds, procellariiforms are known to have developed a range of olfactory-driven behaviours, such as partner recognition and homing. Olfaction could be an effective means of recognizing and thereafter avoiding invasive predators. However, the role of olfaction in predation risk assessment has not yet been examined in any procellariiform. Here, we investigated, through a Y-maze experiment, whether the wedge-tailed shearwater (Puffinus pacificus) avoided the odour of one of the most damaging alien predators on islands, the ship rat (Rattus rattus). The experiment was conducted in different ecological contexts on three neighbouring islets off New Caledonia having different communities of invasive rats. Contrary to our expectations, the wedge-tailed shearwater either did not detect or did not avoid the odour of the ship rat, despite about 175 years of coexistence between rats and shearwaters in New Caledonia. These findings highlight the need for further investigations (across species, across sites) into the factors underpinning the paradox between high vulnerability and the surprising long-term coexistence between procellariid seabirds and alien invasive rats

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“…For instance, the former may occur when introduced alien predators become invasive (Fukami et al ., 2006; Koshev et al ., 2020). In these cases, predator eradication programs might be beneficial and often result in recovery of the target prey populations and restoration of ecosystem functions (Nordström et al ., 2002; Lock, 2006; Marie et al ., 2014; Engeman et al ., 2016). Similar effects may show up with native predators that become overabundant following for example poor management practices, although this topic has been less intensively investigated (e.g., Graitson et al ., 2019; Bravo et al ., 2020; Johann et al ., 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

et al. 2021

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Nest predation is reported as a cause of reproductive failure of ground‐nesting bird species whose populations in Europe are declining. Conversely, European populations of the wild boar Sus scrofa have been expanding, leading to increasing threats to habitats and ecological communities. The impacts of wild boar on ground‐nesting bird species are poorly known and have never been explicitly assessed. We conducted an artificial ground‐nest experiment in Mediterranean habitats of central Italy using camera traps to assess predator identities. Deployed nests contained quail or chicken eggs, and predation occurred within one week for 47/48 deployments carried out during March‐July 2020. The wild boar was the most common predator (36% deployments), followed by the magpie Pica pica (18%), the red fox Vulpes vulpes (10%) and the pine marten Martes martes (10%). Predation by other species was occasionally observed. Egg type and deployment habitat did not significantly influence time to predation or the likelihood that a nest was preyed upon by wild boar, respectively. The presence of a stuffed gull close to the nests significantly delayed predation. Nests preyed by birds and mammals other than wild boar were often subsequently scavenged by wild boar, which consumed the remaining eggs or eggshells. Time to predation increased from spring to summer, suggesting a reduction of predation intensity during periods when the availability of natural eggs is lowest. The likelihood of a nest being preyed upon by the wild boar compared to other predators increased when wild boar frequency of occurrence in 1‐week camera trap shootings was the highest, suggesting that higher abundance/activity of this species triggered increased egg predation. The wild boar might act as major predators of ground‐nesting bird species in Mediterranean habitats and the large‐scale population increase of this ungulate should be considered a significant threat to ground‐nesting species of European conservation concern.

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Response of Wedge-tailed Shearwaters (Puffinus pacificus) to Eradication of Black Rats (Rattus rattus) from Moku‘auia Island after Reinvasion¹

Cited by 10 publications

References 21 publications

Increase in Wedge‐tailed Shearwaters and Changes in Soil Nutrients following Removal of Alien Mammalian Predators and Nitrogen‐fixing Plants at Kaena Point, Hawaii

Increase in Wedge‐tailed Shearwaters and Changes in Soil Nutrients following Removal of Alien Mammalian Predators and Nitrogen‐fixing Plants at Kaena Point, Hawaii

Anti‐predator behaviour in a procellariid seabird: Wedge‐tailed shearwaters do not respond to the odour of introduced ship rats

The wild boar Sus scrofa as a threat to ground‐nesting bird species: an artificial nest experiment

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