Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago
International audience Studies on the role of introduced rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, on islands have mainly focused on their negative impacts on vegetation. However, little attention has been paid to their influence on vertebrate communities. On Ile Verte (148 ha) in the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen...
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ftccsdartic:oai:HAL:hal-00644357v1 2024-02-11T09:56:39+01:00 Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago Brodier, S. Pisanu, B. Villiers, Alexandre Pettex, E. Lioret, M. Chapuis, J.L. Bretagnolle, Vincent Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la COnservation (CESCO) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Department of Biology University of Turku 2011-10-10 https://hal.science/hal-00644357 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x en eng HAL CCSD Wiley info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x hal-00644357 https://hal.science/hal-00644357 doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x ISSN: 1367-9430 Animal Conservation https://hal.science/hal-00644357 Animal Conservation, 2011, 14 (5), pp.459-465. ⟨10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x⟩ [SDE]Environmental Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2011 ftccsdartic https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x 2024-01-27T23:43:09Z International audience Studies on the role of introduced rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, on islands have mainly focused on their negative impacts on vegetation. However, little attention has been paid to their influence on vertebrate communities. On Ile Verte (148 ha) in the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago, rabbits are the only mammal that have been introduced. The long-term consequences of their eradication in 1992 on both native, burrowing seabird prey populations and their predator, the brown skua Catharacta skua, were investigated between 1991 and 2005. Densities of breeding petrels were followed on site with three plant communities differing in their soil depth. In addition, the diet and breeding activities of skuas were evaluated on the entire island area. The density of breeding pairs of the most abundant petrel species, the blue petrel Halobaena caerulea, which only nested at the site with deep-soil, increased by approximately eightfold during the 6 years following the rabbit eradication. Of the other species nesting in deep soil, there was an approximately fourfold reduction in the Antarctic prion, Pachyptila desolata, but such a decrease in breeding pair densities was not observed in areas with shallow soils. The South-Georgian diving petrels, Pelecanoides georgicus, was the rarest species, nesting only on mineral soils, and for which breeding pairs did not vary through time. The total numbers of fledged chicks of skua on the island significantly increased during the study period, but not the total number of breeding pairs. Thus, brown skuas were not affected by the disappearance of rabbits and rather benefited from an increase of their preferred prey. Blue petrels recovered quickly to sites with deep-soil, benefiting from the rabbit eradication and the cessation of burrow disturbance. The decrease of Antarctic prions could have been the result of an exclusion process from nesting areas on the deep soil site by blue petrels. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic prion Brown Skua Catharacta skua Pachyptila desolata Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) Antarctic Ile Verte ENVELOPE(70.044,70.044,-49.507,-49.507) Kerguelen The Antarctic Verte ENVELOPE(141.192,141.192,-66.740,-66.740) Animal Conservation 14 5 459 465 |
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Archive ouverte HAL (Hyper Article en Ligne, CCSD - Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe) |
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ftccsdartic |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences Brodier, S. Pisanu, B. Villiers, Alexandre Pettex, E. Lioret, M. Chapuis, J.L. Bretagnolle, Vincent Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago |
topic_facet |
[SDE]Environmental Sciences |
description |
International audience Studies on the role of introduced rabbits, Oryctolagus cuniculus, on islands have mainly focused on their negative impacts on vegetation. However, little attention has been paid to their influence on vertebrate communities. On Ile Verte (148 ha) in the sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago, rabbits are the only mammal that have been introduced. The long-term consequences of their eradication in 1992 on both native, burrowing seabird prey populations and their predator, the brown skua Catharacta skua, were investigated between 1991 and 2005. Densities of breeding petrels were followed on site with three plant communities differing in their soil depth. In addition, the diet and breeding activities of skuas were evaluated on the entire island area. The density of breeding pairs of the most abundant petrel species, the blue petrel Halobaena caerulea, which only nested at the site with deep-soil, increased by approximately eightfold during the 6 years following the rabbit eradication. Of the other species nesting in deep soil, there was an approximately fourfold reduction in the Antarctic prion, Pachyptila desolata, but such a decrease in breeding pair densities was not observed in areas with shallow soils. The South-Georgian diving petrels, Pelecanoides georgicus, was the rarest species, nesting only on mineral soils, and for which breeding pairs did not vary through time. The total numbers of fledged chicks of skua on the island significantly increased during the study period, but not the total number of breeding pairs. Thus, brown skuas were not affected by the disappearance of rabbits and rather benefited from an increase of their preferred prey. Blue petrels recovered quickly to sites with deep-soil, benefiting from the rabbit eradication and the cessation of burrow disturbance. The decrease of Antarctic prions could have been the result of an exclusion process from nesting areas on the deep soil site by blue petrels. |
author2 |
Centre d'Ecologie et des Sciences de la COnservation (CESCO) Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Department of Biology University of Turku |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Brodier, S. Pisanu, B. Villiers, Alexandre Pettex, E. Lioret, M. Chapuis, J.L. Bretagnolle, Vincent |
author_facet |
Brodier, S. Pisanu, B. Villiers, Alexandre Pettex, E. Lioret, M. Chapuis, J.L. Bretagnolle, Vincent |
author_sort |
Brodier, S. |
title |
Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago |
title_short |
Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago |
title_full |
Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago |
title_fullStr |
Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago |
title_full_unstemmed |
Responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on Ile Verte, sub-Antarctic Kerguelen Archipelago |
title_sort |
responses of seabirds to the rabbit eradication on ile verte, sub-antarctic kerguelen archipelago |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00644357 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(70.044,70.044,-49.507,-49.507) ENVELOPE(141.192,141.192,-66.740,-66.740) |
geographic |
Antarctic Ile Verte Kerguelen The Antarctic Verte |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Ile Verte Kerguelen The Antarctic Verte |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic prion Brown Skua Catharacta skua Pachyptila desolata |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctic prion Brown Skua Catharacta skua Pachyptila desolata |
op_source |
ISSN: 1367-9430 Animal Conservation https://hal.science/hal-00644357 Animal Conservation, 2011, 14 (5), pp.459-465. ⟨10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x hal-00644357 https://hal.science/hal-00644357 doi:10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-1795.2011.00455.x |
container_title |
Animal Conservation |
container_volume |
14 |
container_issue |
5 |
container_start_page |
459 |
op_container_end_page |
465 |
_version_ |
1790604857037553664 |