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Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest

Invasive rats (Rattus spp.) are known to have pervasive impacts on island birds, particularly on their nesting success. To conserve or restore bird populations, numerous invasive rat control or eradication projects are undertaken on islands worldwide. However, such projects represent a huge investme...

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Autores principales: Duron, Quiterie, Bourguet, Edouard, De Meringo, Hélène, Millon, Alexandre, Vidal, Eric
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29492018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cz/zox009
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author Duron, Quiterie
Bourguet, Edouard
De Meringo, Hélène
Millon, Alexandre
Vidal, Eric
author_facet Duron, Quiterie
Bourguet, Edouard
De Meringo, Hélène
Millon, Alexandre
Vidal, Eric
author_sort Duron, Quiterie
collection PubMed
description Invasive rats (Rattus spp.) are known to have pervasive impacts on island birds, particularly on their nesting success. To conserve or restore bird populations, numerous invasive rat control or eradication projects are undertaken on islands worldwide. However, such projects represent a huge investment and the decision-making process requires proper assessment of rat impacts. Here, we assessed the influence of two sympatric invasive rats (Rattus rattus and R. exulans) on native bird eggs in a New Caledonian rainforest, using artificial bird-nest monitoring. A total of 178 artificial nests containing two eggs of three different sizes were placed either on the ground or 1.5 m high and monitored at the start of the birds’ breeding season. Overall, 12.4% of the nests were depredated during the first 7 days. At site 1, where nests were monitored during 16 days, 41.8% of the nests were depredated. The main predator was the native crow Corvus moneduloides, responsible for 62.9% of the overall predation events. Rats were responsible for only 22.9% of the events, and ate only small and medium eggs at both heights. Our experiment suggests that in New Caledonia, predation pressure by rats strengthens overall bird-nest predation, adding to that by native predators. Experimental rat control operations may allow reduced predation pressure on nests as well as the recording of biodiversity responses after rat population reduction.
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spelling pubmed-58042182018-02-28 Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest Duron, Quiterie Bourguet, Edouard De Meringo, Hélène Millon, Alexandre Vidal, Eric Curr Zool Articles Invasive rats (Rattus spp.) are known to have pervasive impacts on island birds, particularly on their nesting success. To conserve or restore bird populations, numerous invasive rat control or eradication projects are undertaken on islands worldwide. However, such projects represent a huge investment and the decision-making process requires proper assessment of rat impacts. Here, we assessed the influence of two sympatric invasive rats (Rattus rattus and R. exulans) on native bird eggs in a New Caledonian rainforest, using artificial bird-nest monitoring. A total of 178 artificial nests containing two eggs of three different sizes were placed either on the ground or 1.5 m high and monitored at the start of the birds’ breeding season. Overall, 12.4% of the nests were depredated during the first 7 days. At site 1, where nests were monitored during 16 days, 41.8% of the nests were depredated. The main predator was the native crow Corvus moneduloides, responsible for 62.9% of the overall predation events. Rats were responsible for only 22.9% of the events, and ate only small and medium eggs at both heights. Our experiment suggests that in New Caledonia, predation pressure by rats strengthens overall bird-nest predation, adding to that by native predators. Experimental rat control operations may allow reduced predation pressure on nests as well as the recording of biodiversity responses after rat population reduction. Oxford University Press 2017-12 2017-02-22 /pmc/articles/PMC5804218/ /pubmed/29492018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cz/zox009 Text en © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For commercial re-use, please contact journals.permissions@oup.com
spellingShingle Articles
Duron, Quiterie
Bourguet, Edouard
De Meringo, Hélène
Millon, Alexandre
Vidal, Eric
Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest
title Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest
title_full Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest
title_fullStr Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest
title_full_unstemmed Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest
title_short Invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a South Pacific island rainforest
title_sort invasive rats strengthen predation pressure on bird eggs in a south pacific island rainforest
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5804218/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29492018
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cz/zox009
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