Controlling invasive predators enhances the long-term survival of endangered New Zealand long-tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus): Implications for conservation of bats on oceanic islands ...

• Main Authors: O'Donnell, Colin F.J., Pryde, Moira A., Van Dam-Bates, Paul, Elliott, Graeme P.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: Zenodo 2017
• Subjects: Biodiversity; Mammalia; Chiroptera; Chordata; Animalia; bats; bat; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13444416; https://zenodo.org/doi/10.5281/zenodo.13444416

(Uploaded by Plazi for the Bat Literature Project) Invasive mammalian predators pose one of the greatest threats to biodiversity globally, particularly on oceanic islands. However, little is known about the impacts of these invasive predators on bats (Chiroptera), one of the most specious mammal groups, and one of the most widespread groups of mammals threatened on oceanic islands (> 200 spp.). Nearly 50% of the world's threatened bats are island endemics and because they are often the only native mammals on islands, they fulfil important ecological roles such as pollination and seed dispersal. Long-tailed bats (Chalinolobus tuberculatus) are critically endangered because of predation by exotic mammals, particularly ship rats (Rattus rattus), introduced by humans to the island archipelago of New Zealand. We monitored the survival of bats in three colonies in temperate rainforest in Fiordland over 22 years. Since 2009, we controlled predators during irruption phases and compared survival of bats in ...