Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean
Islands can be powerful demonstrations of how destructive invasive species can be on endemic faunas and insular ecologies. Oceanic islands in the eastern Indian Ocean have suffered dramatically from the impact of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, the black rat, causing the loss o...
Published in: | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 https://doaj.org/article/52bb8b846ace4eee9c54dfbd027c35f7 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:52bb8b846ace4eee9c54dfbd027c35f7 2023-05-15T18:05:24+02:00 Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean Vicki A. Thomson Andrew S. Wiewel Russell Palmer Neil Hamilton Dave Algar Caitlyn Pink Harriet Mills Ken P. Aplin Geoffrey Clark Atholl Anderson Michael B. Herrera Steven Myers Terry Bertozzi Philip J. Piper Hitoshi Suzuki Steve Donnellan 2022-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 https://doaj.org/article/52bb8b846ace4eee9c54dfbd027c35f7 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-701X 2296-701X doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 https://doaj.org/article/52bb8b846ace4eee9c54dfbd027c35f7 Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9 (2022) Rattus rattus Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) Cocos (Keeling Islands) colonization and extinction cytochrome b RAD-seq Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 2022-12-31T10:52:27Z Islands can be powerful demonstrations of how destructive invasive species can be on endemic faunas and insular ecologies. Oceanic islands in the eastern Indian Ocean have suffered dramatically from the impact of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, the black rat, causing the loss of endemic terrestrial mammals and ongoing threats to ground-nesting birds. We use molecular genetic methods on both ancient and modern samples to establish the origins and minimum invasion frequencies of black rats on Christmas Island and the Cocos-Keeling Islands. We find that each island group had multiple incursions of black rats from diverse geographic and phylogenetic sources. Furthermore, contemporary black rat populations on these islands are highly admixed to the point of potentially obscuring their geographic sources. These hybridisation events between black rat taxa also pose potential dangers to human populations on the islands from novel disease risks. Threats of ongoing introductions from yet additional geographic sources is highlighted by genetic identifications of black rats found on ships, which provides insight into how recent ship-borne human smuggling activity to Christmas Island can negatively impact its endemic species. Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Indian Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 9 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Rattus rattus Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) Cocos (Keeling Islands) colonization and extinction cytochrome b RAD-seq Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
spellingShingle |
Rattus rattus Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) Cocos (Keeling Islands) colonization and extinction cytochrome b RAD-seq Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 Vicki A. Thomson Andrew S. Wiewel Russell Palmer Neil Hamilton Dave Algar Caitlyn Pink Harriet Mills Ken P. Aplin Geoffrey Clark Atholl Anderson Michael B. Herrera Steven Myers Terry Bertozzi Philip J. Piper Hitoshi Suzuki Steve Donnellan Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean |
topic_facet |
Rattus rattus Christmas Island (Indian Ocean) Cocos (Keeling Islands) colonization and extinction cytochrome b RAD-seq Evolution QH359-425 Ecology QH540-549.5 |
description |
Islands can be powerful demonstrations of how destructive invasive species can be on endemic faunas and insular ecologies. Oceanic islands in the eastern Indian Ocean have suffered dramatically from the impact of one of the world’s most destructive invasive species, the black rat, causing the loss of endemic terrestrial mammals and ongoing threats to ground-nesting birds. We use molecular genetic methods on both ancient and modern samples to establish the origins and minimum invasion frequencies of black rats on Christmas Island and the Cocos-Keeling Islands. We find that each island group had multiple incursions of black rats from diverse geographic and phylogenetic sources. Furthermore, contemporary black rat populations on these islands are highly admixed to the point of potentially obscuring their geographic sources. These hybridisation events between black rat taxa also pose potential dangers to human populations on the islands from novel disease risks. Threats of ongoing introductions from yet additional geographic sources is highlighted by genetic identifications of black rats found on ships, which provides insight into how recent ship-borne human smuggling activity to Christmas Island can negatively impact its endemic species. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vicki A. Thomson Andrew S. Wiewel Russell Palmer Neil Hamilton Dave Algar Caitlyn Pink Harriet Mills Ken P. Aplin Geoffrey Clark Atholl Anderson Michael B. Herrera Steven Myers Terry Bertozzi Philip J. Piper Hitoshi Suzuki Steve Donnellan |
author_facet |
Vicki A. Thomson Andrew S. Wiewel Russell Palmer Neil Hamilton Dave Algar Caitlyn Pink Harriet Mills Ken P. Aplin Geoffrey Clark Atholl Anderson Michael B. Herrera Steven Myers Terry Bertozzi Philip J. Piper Hitoshi Suzuki Steve Donnellan |
author_sort |
Vicki A. Thomson |
title |
Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean |
title_short |
Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean |
title_full |
Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean |
title_fullStr |
Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Genetic Insights Into the Introduction History of Black Rats Into the Eastern Indian Ocean |
title_sort |
genetic insights into the introduction history of black rats into the eastern indian ocean |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 https://doaj.org/article/52bb8b846ace4eee9c54dfbd027c35f7 |
geographic |
Indian |
geographic_facet |
Indian |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, Vol 9 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-701X 2296-701X doi:10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 https://doaj.org/article/52bb8b846ace4eee9c54dfbd027c35f7 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2021.786510 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution |
container_volume |
9 |
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1766176866835628032 |