Invasive rats and seabirds after 2,000 years of an unwanted coexistence on Mediterranean islands

• Published in: Biological Invasions
• Main Authors: Ruffino, L., Bourgeois, K., Vidal, E., Duhem, C., Paracuellos, M., Escribano, F., Sposimo, P., Baccetti, N., Pascal, Michel, Oro, D.
• Other Authors: Centre européen de recherche et d'enseignement des géosciences de l'environnement (CEREGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-Aix Marseille Université (AMU)-Collège de France (CdF (institution))-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Grupo de Investigacion Ecologia Acuatica y Acuicultura, Apdo.110, Universidad de Almería (UAL), C/Catedratico Eugenio Ubeda, 3 3a planta. Despacho 302, Direccion General del Medio Natural, Consejeria de Desarrollo Sostenible y Ordenacion del Territorio, Nature and Environment Management Operators (NEMO), via ca' Fornacetta 9, Istituto Nazionale per la Faune Selvatica, Écologie et santé des écosystèmes (ESE), Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA)-AGROCAMPUS OUEST, Miquel Marques, 21, Institut Mediterrani d'Estudis Avancats (IMEDEA), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid (CSIC)-Universidad de las Islas Baleares (UIB)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas Madrid (CSIC)-Universidad de las Islas Baleares (UIB)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2009
• Subjects: ISLANDS; MEDITERRANEAN; PROCELLARIIFORMES; COEXISTENCE; INTRODUCED PREDATORS; RAT; OISEAU MARIN; PUFFINUS YELKOUAN; PUFFINUS MAURETANICUS; HYDROBATES PELAGICUS; ESPECE INVASIVE; mammals; rodent; fulmarus glacialoides; predator; island; preying; geographical distribution; mammifère; rongeur; rattus rattus; oiseau; procellariidae; calonectris diomedea; prédateur; ile; mer méditerranée; invasion biologique; prédation; distribution géographique; milieu insulaire; [SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio]; Rattus rattus
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01453763; https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-008-9394-z

In the Mediterranean, the survival of endemic long-lived seabirds despite the long-standing introduction of one of the most damaging alien predator, the ship rat (Rattus rattus), on most islands constitutes an amazing conservation paradox. A database gathering information on approximately 300 Western Mediterranean islands was analyzed through generalized linear models to identify the factors likely to influence ship rat presence and to account for how ship rat presence and island characteristics may have driven the presence and abundance of seabirds. Our review showed that few Mediterranean islands remain rat-free. At the regional scale, rat presence was only a limiting factor in the abundance of the smallest seabird, the storm petrel (Hydrobates pelagicus), while the distribution and abundance of the three shearwaters were more influenced by island characteristics. We hypothesized that the long-term persistence of these seabirds may have been facilitated by the various biogeographical contexts of Mediterranean islands, likely to provide intra-island refuges.