Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands
Non-native rats (Rattus spp.) threaten native island species worldwide. Efforts to eradicate them from islands have increased in frequency and become more ambitious in recent years. However, the long-term success of some eradication efforts has been compromised by the ability of rats, particularly N...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:49f82ed51d4649fb8aa76626634cb84d 2023-05-15T14:03:55+02:00 Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands Michael A. Tabak Sally Poncet Ken Passfield Carlos Martinez del Rio 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.24.8433 https://doaj.org/article/49f82ed51d4649fb8aa76626634cb84d EN eng Pensoft Publishers http://neobiota.pensoft.net/lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=download_pdf&item_id=4524 https://doaj.org/toc/1619-0033 https://doaj.org/toc/1314-2488 1619-0033 1314-2488 doi:10.3897/neobiota.24.8433 https://doaj.org/article/49f82ed51d4649fb8aa76626634cb84d NeoBiota, Vol 24, Pp 33-48 (2015) Biology (General) QH301-705.5 article 2015 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.24.8433 2022-12-31T15:48:14Z Non-native rats (Rattus spp.) threaten native island species worldwide. Efforts to eradicate them from islands have increased in frequency and become more ambitious in recent years. However, the long-term success of some eradication efforts has been compromised by the ability of rats, particularly Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) which are good swimmers, to recolonize islands following eradications. In the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, the distance of 250 m between islands (once suggested as the minimum separation distance for an effective barrier to recolonization) has shown to be insufficient. Norway rats are present on about half of the 503 islands in the Falklands. Bird diversity is lower on islands with rats and two vulnerable passerine species, Troglodytes cobbi (the only endemic Falkland Islands passerine) and Cinclodes antarcticus, have greatly reduced abundances and/or are absent on islands with rats. We used logistic regression models to investigate the potential factors that may determine the presence of Norway rats on 158 islands in the Falkland Islands. Our models included island area, distance to the nearest rat-infested island, island location, and the history of island use by humans as driving variables. Models best supported by data included only distance to the nearest potential source of rats and island area, but the relative magnitude of the effect of distance and area on the presence of rats varied depending on whether islands were in the eastern or western sector of the archipelago. The human use of an island was not a significant parameter in any models. A very large fraction (72%) of islands within 500 m of the nearest potential rat source had rats, but 97% of islands farther than 1,000 m away from potential rat sources were free of rats. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* antarcticus South Atlantic Ocean Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Norway NeoBiota 24 33 48 |
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Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
spellingShingle |
Biology (General) QH301-705.5 Michael A. Tabak Sally Poncet Ken Passfield Carlos Martinez del Rio Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands |
topic_facet |
Biology (General) QH301-705.5 |
description |
Non-native rats (Rattus spp.) threaten native island species worldwide. Efforts to eradicate them from islands have increased in frequency and become more ambitious in recent years. However, the long-term success of some eradication efforts has been compromised by the ability of rats, particularly Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) which are good swimmers, to recolonize islands following eradications. In the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, the distance of 250 m between islands (once suggested as the minimum separation distance for an effective barrier to recolonization) has shown to be insufficient. Norway rats are present on about half of the 503 islands in the Falklands. Bird diversity is lower on islands with rats and two vulnerable passerine species, Troglodytes cobbi (the only endemic Falkland Islands passerine) and Cinclodes antarcticus, have greatly reduced abundances and/or are absent on islands with rats. We used logistic regression models to investigate the potential factors that may determine the presence of Norway rats on 158 islands in the Falkland Islands. Our models included island area, distance to the nearest rat-infested island, island location, and the history of island use by humans as driving variables. Models best supported by data included only distance to the nearest potential source of rats and island area, but the relative magnitude of the effect of distance and area on the presence of rats varied depending on whether islands were in the eastern or western sector of the archipelago. The human use of an island was not a significant parameter in any models. A very large fraction (72%) of islands within 500 m of the nearest potential rat source had rats, but 97% of islands farther than 1,000 m away from potential rat sources were free of rats. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Michael A. Tabak Sally Poncet Ken Passfield Carlos Martinez del Rio |
author_facet |
Michael A. Tabak Sally Poncet Ken Passfield Carlos Martinez del Rio |
author_sort |
Michael A. Tabak |
title |
Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands |
title_short |
Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands |
title_full |
Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands |
title_fullStr |
Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands |
title_full_unstemmed |
Modeling the distribution of Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the Falkland Islands |
title_sort |
modeling the distribution of norway rats (rattus norvegicus) on offshore islands in the falkland islands |
publisher |
Pensoft Publishers |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.24.8433 https://doaj.org/article/49f82ed51d4649fb8aa76626634cb84d |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Antarc* antarcticus South Atlantic Ocean |
genre_facet |
Antarc* antarcticus South Atlantic Ocean |
op_source |
NeoBiota, Vol 24, Pp 33-48 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://neobiota.pensoft.net/lib/ajax_srv/article_elements_srv.php?action=download_pdf&item_id=4524 https://doaj.org/toc/1619-0033 https://doaj.org/toc/1314-2488 1619-0033 1314-2488 doi:10.3897/neobiota.24.8433 https://doaj.org/article/49f82ed51d4649fb8aa76626634cb84d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3897/neobiota.24.8433 |
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NeoBiota |
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24 |
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33 |
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48 |
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1766274814498045952 |