Potential for primary poisoning of a critically endangered endemic land bird during rodent eradication operations at Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha

• Main Authors: Bond, Alexander L, Risi, Michelle M, Jones, Christopher W, Ryan, Peter G
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: PeerJ 2016
• Subjects: Gough; Tristan; South Atlantic Ocean
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.1744v2; https://peerj.com/preprints/1744v2.pdf; https://peerj.com/preprints/1744v2.xml; https://peerj.com/preprints/1744v2.html

Eradicating introduced rodents from islands restores these communities, but operations must mitigate bait uptake by non-target species to ensure adequate bait coverage, and minimize mortality of non-target species. Ingestion of toxic bait is a recognised risk for scavenging birds, but is also a concern for generalist feeders. Gough Island, Tristan da Cunha, in the South Atlantic Ocean, has introduced house mice ( Mus musculus ) that negatively affect the island ecosystem. It is also home to the endemic globally threatened Gough bunting ( Rowettia goughensis ), a generalist that may be affected by primary poisoning. We presented 26 wild individuals with non-toxic bait pellets and observed their reactions for up to 30 min, or until they flew away. While 23% of Gough buntings did not react to bait pellets, 77% showed some level of interest. Generalist feeders, such as Gough bunting, may also be at risk of primary poisoning during rodent eradication operations.