Abstract
The American mink (Neovison vison) has been described as one of the worst invasive species in the northern hemisphere. Although some studies on the mink exist for the southern hemisphere, aside from impacts on marine and freshwater birds, its effect on other components of the biota is not well understood. Here, as a result of 3 different studies, we report evidence for the mink as a predator of the Magellanic woodpecker (Campephilus magellanicus). To our knowledge, these are the first evidences of predation on this charismatic and endemic woodpecker and indicate that mink might have a more widespread impact on forest birds than was initially suspected.
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Acknowledgments
These studies were supported by the Omora Foundation, the Institute of Ecology and Biodiversity (ICM P05-002, and CONICYT PFB-23), Universidad de Magallanes, the University of North Texas, and the Universidad de Santiago (FONDECYT 1131133). We appreciate the help in the field of Marlene Lizama, Omar Barroso, Quiterie Durón, Cristian Celis and Benoit Gangloff. Telemetry advice was provided by Jorge Tomasevic. Lastly, we want to thank to anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that considerably improved our manuscript. Permits to radio-track Magellanic woodpeckers were issued by Chile’s Agricultural and Livestock Bureau (SAG, permits No. 5037 and 7137).
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Jiménez, J.E., Crego, R.D., Soto, G.E. et al. Potential impact of the Alien American Mink (Neovison vison) on Magellanic woodpeckers (Campephilus magellanicus) in Navarino Island, Southern Chile. Biol Invasions 16, 961–966 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0549-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0549-1