Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator
International audience Breeding success of 5 Cory's shearwater Calonectris diomedea sub-colonies of Lavezzu Island (Lavezzi Archipelago, Corsica) was checked annually for 25 consecutive years from 1979 to 2004. Between 1989 and 1994, 4 ship rat Rattus rattus controls were performed in several s...
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-00319371v1 2023-05-15T18:05:12+02:00 Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator Pascal, Michel Lorvelec, Olivier Bretagnolle, Vincent Culioli, Jean-Michel Station commune de Recherches en Ichtyophysiologie, Biodiversité et Environnement (SCRIBE) Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) 2008-09-08 https://hal.science/hal-00319371 https://hal.science/hal-00319371/document https://hal.science/hal-00319371/file/2008_Pascal_Endangered%20Species%20Res_1.pdf https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00080 en eng HAL CCSD Oldendorf/Luhe : Inter-Research info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3354/esr00080 hal-00319371 https://hal.science/hal-00319371 https://hal.science/hal-00319371/document https://hal.science/hal-00319371/file/2008_Pascal_Endangered%20Species%20Res_1.pdf doi:10.3354/esr00080 PRODINRA: 29264 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess ISSN: 1863-5407 EISSN: 1613-4796 Endangered Species Research https://hal.science/hal-00319371 Endangered Species Research, 2008, 4, pp.267-276. ⟨10.3354/esr00080⟩ Biological invasion · Eradication · Control · Seabirds · Rattus rattus · Calonectris diomedea [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2008 ftunivnantes https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00080 2023-02-08T06:34:28Z International audience Breeding success of 5 Cory's shearwater Calonectris diomedea sub-colonies of Lavezzu Island (Lavezzi Archipelago, Corsica) was checked annually for 25 consecutive years from 1979 to 2004. Between 1989 and 1994, 4 ship rat Rattus rattus controls were performed in several subcolonies. In November 2000, rats were eradicated from Lavezzu Island and its 16 peripheral islets (85 ha) using traps then toxic baits. We compare cost (number of person-hours required in the field) and benefit (Cory's shearwater breeding success) of control and eradication. The average breeding success doubled when rats were controlled or eradicated (0.82) compared to the situation without rat management (0.45). Moreover, the average breeding success after eradication (0.86) was significantly (11%) higher than after rat controls (0.75). Furthermore, the great variation in breeding success recorded among sub-colonies both with and without rat control declined dramatically after eradication, suggesting that rats had a major impact on breeding success. The estimated effort needed to perform eradication and checking of the permanent bait-station system during the year following eradication was 1360 person-hours. In contrast, rat control was estimated to require 240 or 1440 person-hours per year when implemented by trained and untrained staff, respectively. Within 6 yr, eradication cost is lower than control cost performed by untrained staff and confers several ecological advantages on more ecosystem components than Cory's shearwater alone. Improved eradication tools such as hand or aerial broadcasting of toxic baits instead of the fairly labour-intensive eradication strategy we used would dramatically increase the economic advantage of eradication vs. control. Therefore, when feasible, we recommend eradication rather than control of non-native rat populations. Nevertheless, control remains a useful management tool when eradication is not practicable Article in Journal/Newspaper Rattus rattus Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES Endangered Species Research 4 267 276 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
Biological invasion · Eradication · Control · Seabirds · Rattus rattus · Calonectris diomedea [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
spellingShingle |
Biological invasion · Eradication · Control · Seabirds · Rattus rattus · Calonectris diomedea [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes Pascal, Michel Lorvelec, Olivier Bretagnolle, Vincent Culioli, Jean-Michel Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
topic_facet |
Biological invasion · Eradication · Control · Seabirds · Rattus rattus · Calonectris diomedea [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology [SDE.ES]Environmental Sciences/Environmental and Society [SDE.MCG]Environmental Sciences/Global Changes |
description |
International audience Breeding success of 5 Cory's shearwater Calonectris diomedea sub-colonies of Lavezzu Island (Lavezzi Archipelago, Corsica) was checked annually for 25 consecutive years from 1979 to 2004. Between 1989 and 1994, 4 ship rat Rattus rattus controls were performed in several subcolonies. In November 2000, rats were eradicated from Lavezzu Island and its 16 peripheral islets (85 ha) using traps then toxic baits. We compare cost (number of person-hours required in the field) and benefit (Cory's shearwater breeding success) of control and eradication. The average breeding success doubled when rats were controlled or eradicated (0.82) compared to the situation without rat management (0.45). Moreover, the average breeding success after eradication (0.86) was significantly (11%) higher than after rat controls (0.75). Furthermore, the great variation in breeding success recorded among sub-colonies both with and without rat control declined dramatically after eradication, suggesting that rats had a major impact on breeding success. The estimated effort needed to perform eradication and checking of the permanent bait-station system during the year following eradication was 1360 person-hours. In contrast, rat control was estimated to require 240 or 1440 person-hours per year when implemented by trained and untrained staff, respectively. Within 6 yr, eradication cost is lower than control cost performed by untrained staff and confers several ecological advantages on more ecosystem components than Cory's shearwater alone. Improved eradication tools such as hand or aerial broadcasting of toxic baits instead of the fairly labour-intensive eradication strategy we used would dramatically increase the economic advantage of eradication vs. control. Therefore, when feasible, we recommend eradication rather than control of non-native rat populations. Nevertheless, control remains a useful management tool when eradication is not practicable |
author2 |
Station commune de Recherches en Ichtyophysiologie, Biodiversité et Environnement (SCRIBE) Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA) Centre d'Études Biologiques de Chizé (CEBC) Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Pascal, Michel Lorvelec, Olivier Bretagnolle, Vincent Culioli, Jean-Michel |
author_facet |
Pascal, Michel Lorvelec, Olivier Bretagnolle, Vincent Culioli, Jean-Michel |
author_sort |
Pascal, Michel |
title |
Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
title_short |
Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
title_full |
Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
title_fullStr |
Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
title_full_unstemmed |
Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
title_sort |
improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
https://hal.science/hal-00319371 https://hal.science/hal-00319371/document https://hal.science/hal-00319371/file/2008_Pascal_Endangered%20Species%20Res_1.pdf https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00080 |
genre |
Rattus rattus |
genre_facet |
Rattus rattus |
op_source |
ISSN: 1863-5407 EISSN: 1613-4796 Endangered Species Research https://hal.science/hal-00319371 Endangered Species Research, 2008, 4, pp.267-276. ⟨10.3354/esr00080⟩ |
op_relation |
info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.3354/esr00080 hal-00319371 https://hal.science/hal-00319371 https://hal.science/hal-00319371/document https://hal.science/hal-00319371/file/2008_Pascal_Endangered%20Species%20Res_1.pdf doi:10.3354/esr00080 PRODINRA: 29264 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ info:eu-repo/semantics/OpenAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3354/esr00080 |
container_title |
Endangered Species Research |
container_volume |
4 |
container_start_page |
267 |
op_container_end_page |
276 |
_version_ |
1766176648008302592 |