Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned
Removal of introduced rats from islands is a proven and powerful conservation tool that can help restore ecosystem functioning and/or processes. Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada, is an isolated marine archipelago with distinct flora and fauna that have evolved during 14,000 years of isolation f...
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Language: | English |
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ftcdlib:qt0xr266wk 2023-05-15T18:05:35+02:00 Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned Gill, Chris Wein, Laurie Howald, Gregg McClelland, Pete 118 - 124 2014-01-01 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0xr266wk english eng eScholarship, University of California qt0xr266wk http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0xr266wk public Gill, Chris; Wein, Laurie; Howald, Gregg; & McClelland, Pete. (2014). Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 26(26), 118 - 124. doi:10.5070/V426110667. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0xr266wk aerial broadcast brodifacoum Canada Haida Gwaii invasive alien species invasive species island restoration rat eradication Rattus rattus seabird conservation Life Sciences article 2014 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.5070/V426110667 2019-04-05T22:52:25Z Removal of introduced rats from islands is a proven and powerful conservation tool that can help restore ecosystem functioning and/or processes. Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada, is an isolated marine archipelago with distinct flora and fauna that have evolved during 14,000 years of isolation from the mainland. Approximately 1.5 million seabirds from 13 species nest on the islands of Haida Gwaii, including 50% of the global ancient murrelet population, a federally designated species at risk in Canada. Within Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (located at the southern end of Haida Gwaii) there are 9 designated Important Bird Areas (IBAs), established primarily to denote important seabird nesting sites. However, unintentional historical introductions of rats to islands within IBAs and throughout Haida Gwaii have led to the demise of several seabird nesting colonies. In September 2013, Parks Canada Agency, in partnership with Coastal Conservation and Island Conservation, implemented Canada’s first aerial broadcast eradication of black rats from two islands within the Ramsay Island and Northern Juan Perez Sound Islands IBA, where seabird colonies and ecosystem processes have been negatively impacted by this species. The eradication of black rats from Murchison and Faraday Islands posed several challenges including ensuring adequate bait density to maximize the probability of eradication success while minimizing risks to native species. Our planning efforts focused on addressing bait competition by non-target species, the consequence of bait interception by the forest canopy, minimizing bait entering the marine environment, mitigating potential negative impacts to non-target species, and determining the ideal timing for the eradication operation. We present here a summary of these challenges and the measures that were implemented to address them. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus University of California: eScholarship British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Canada Faraday ENVELOPE(-64.256,-64.256,-65.246,-65.246) Juan Perez Sound ENVELOPE(-131.412,-131.412,52.515,52.515) Murchison ENVELOPE(144.250,144.250,-67.317,-67.317) Perez ENVELOPE(-69.117,-69.117,-68.517,-68.517) Ramsay ENVELOPE(-44.733,-44.733,-60.733,-60.733) Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 26 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
topic |
aerial broadcast brodifacoum Canada Haida Gwaii invasive alien species invasive species island restoration rat eradication Rattus rattus seabird conservation Life Sciences |
spellingShingle |
aerial broadcast brodifacoum Canada Haida Gwaii invasive alien species invasive species island restoration rat eradication Rattus rattus seabird conservation Life Sciences Gill, Chris Wein, Laurie Howald, Gregg McClelland, Pete Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned |
topic_facet |
aerial broadcast brodifacoum Canada Haida Gwaii invasive alien species invasive species island restoration rat eradication Rattus rattus seabird conservation Life Sciences |
description |
Removal of introduced rats from islands is a proven and powerful conservation tool that can help restore ecosystem functioning and/or processes. Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada, is an isolated marine archipelago with distinct flora and fauna that have evolved during 14,000 years of isolation from the mainland. Approximately 1.5 million seabirds from 13 species nest on the islands of Haida Gwaii, including 50% of the global ancient murrelet population, a federally designated species at risk in Canada. Within Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (located at the southern end of Haida Gwaii) there are 9 designated Important Bird Areas (IBAs), established primarily to denote important seabird nesting sites. However, unintentional historical introductions of rats to islands within IBAs and throughout Haida Gwaii have led to the demise of several seabird nesting colonies. In September 2013, Parks Canada Agency, in partnership with Coastal Conservation and Island Conservation, implemented Canada’s first aerial broadcast eradication of black rats from two islands within the Ramsay Island and Northern Juan Perez Sound Islands IBA, where seabird colonies and ecosystem processes have been negatively impacted by this species. The eradication of black rats from Murchison and Faraday Islands posed several challenges including ensuring adequate bait density to maximize the probability of eradication success while minimizing risks to native species. Our planning efforts focused on addressing bait competition by non-target species, the consequence of bait interception by the forest canopy, minimizing bait entering the marine environment, mitigating potential negative impacts to non-target species, and determining the ideal timing for the eradication operation. We present here a summary of these challenges and the measures that were implemented to address them. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gill, Chris Wein, Laurie Howald, Gregg McClelland, Pete |
author_facet |
Gill, Chris Wein, Laurie Howald, Gregg McClelland, Pete |
author_sort |
Gill, Chris |
title |
Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned |
title_short |
Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned |
title_full |
Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned |
title_fullStr |
Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned |
title_full_unstemmed |
Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned |
title_sort |
challenges associated with eradicating invasive rodents from islands: lessons learned |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0xr266wk |
op_coverage |
118 - 124 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) ENVELOPE(-64.256,-64.256,-65.246,-65.246) ENVELOPE(-131.412,-131.412,52.515,52.515) ENVELOPE(144.250,144.250,-67.317,-67.317) ENVELOPE(-69.117,-69.117,-68.517,-68.517) ENVELOPE(-44.733,-44.733,-60.733,-60.733) |
geographic |
British Columbia Canada Faraday Juan Perez Sound Murchison Perez Ramsay |
geographic_facet |
British Columbia Canada Faraday Juan Perez Sound Murchison Perez Ramsay |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Gill, Chris; Wein, Laurie; Howald, Gregg; & McClelland, Pete. (2014). Challenges Associated with Eradicating Invasive Rodents from Islands: Lessons Learned. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference, 26(26), 118 - 124. doi:10.5070/V426110667. Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0xr266wk |
op_relation |
qt0xr266wk http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/0xr266wk |
op_rights |
public |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5070/V426110667 |
container_title |
Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference |
container_volume |
26 |
_version_ |
1766177073076895744 |