Abstract
The ship rat (Rattus rattus) was introduced 1,500 years ago to the Zembra Archipelago (Tunisia) and was eradicated in October–November 2009 on two of its islands, Zembretta and Zembrettina. This eradication was performed 2 years after the discovery of a small colony of Yelkouan shearwaters (Puffinus yelkouan), a species recently up-listed to the vulnerable IUCN extinction risk category. For 2 years before and 3 years after rat eradication, the Zembretta Yelkouan shearwater breeding colony was checked yearly at the end of the breeding season. The number of recorded breeding pairs reaching 176 and 145, respectively, increases of 10.4 and 8.5-fold two and 3 years after rat eradication. This experiment shows that eradication of an ancient introduced ship rat population has dramatically improved the Zembretta Yelkouan shearwater breeding population very quickly. This result suggests that managing even long-introduced populations might well be fruitful.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Atkinson IAE (1985) The spread of commensal species of Rattus to oceanic islands and their effect on island avifaunas. In: Moors PJ (ed) Conservation of island birds. International Council for Bird Preservation, Technical Publication, Cambridge, pp 35–81
Audouin-Rouzeau F, Vigne J-D (1994) La colonisation de l’Europe par le Rat noir (Rattus rattus). Rev Paléobiol 13:125–145
Baccetti N, Capizzi D, Corbi F, Massa B, Nissardi S, Spano G, Sposimo P (2009) Breeding shearwaters on Italian islands: population size, island selection and co-existence with their main alien predator, the black rat. Ornitol italiana 78(2):83–100
Belda EJ, Sánchez A (2001) Seabird mortality on longline fisheries in the western Mediterranean: factors affecting bycatch and proposed mitigating measures. Biol Conserv 98:357–363
Bonnaud E, Bourgeois K, Vidal E, Legrand J, Le Corre M (2009) How can the Yelkouan shearwater survive feral cat predation? A meta-population structure as a solution? Popul Ecol 51:261–270
Bonnaud E, Zarzoso-Lacoste D, Bourgeois K, Ruffino L, Legrand J, Vidal E (2010) Top-predator control on islands boosts endemic prey but not mesopredator. Anim Conserv 13:556–567
Borg JJ, Sultana J, Coleiro C (2002) Pre-breeding movements and early nest visits by the Levantine shearwater Puffinus yelkouan in Malta. Il-Merill 30:20–24
Bourgeois K, Vidal E (2007) Yelkouan shearwater nest-cavity selection and breeding success. CR Biol 330:205–214
Bourgeois K, Vidal E (2008) The endemic Mediterranean Yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan: distribution, threats and a plea for new data. Oryx 42:187–194
Bourgeois K, Vidal E, Comor V, Legrand J, Dromzée S (2008) Colony-site selection drives management priorities for Yelkouan shearwater populations. J Wildl Manage 72:1188–1193
Brooke M (2004) Albatrosses and petrels across the World. Oxford University Press, New York
Chelbi F (1993a) Zembra (Jamour El Kébir). Les vestiges puniques et l’habitat punico-romain. Premier Colloque sur l’histoire du Cap–Bon, Nabeul, Mars 1993. Ministère de la culture, Comité culturel régional de Nabeul: 65–72
Chelbi F (1993b) Missions archéologiques à Zembra. Premier Colloque sur l’histoire du Cap–Bon, Nabeul, Mars 1993. Ministère de la culture, Comité culturel régional de Nabeul: 60–64
Cheylan G (1985) La prédation exercée par le rat noir Rattus rattus sur les oiseaux de mer nicheurs dans les îles méditerranéennes, vol 2. Annales du C.R.O.P., Aix-en-Provence, pp 27–29
Cooper J, Baccetti N, Belda EJ, Borg JJ, Oro D, Papaconstantinou C, Sánchez A (2003) Seabird mortality from longline fishing in the Mediterranean Sea and Macaronesian waters: a review and a way forward. Sci Mar 67(Suppl. 2):57–64
Guyot I, Thibault J-C (1988) Les oiseaux marins nicheurs de Méditerranée occidentale : répartition, effectifs et recensements. Bull Soc Écol 19:305–320
Howald G, Donlan CJ, Galván JP, Russell JC, Parkes J, Samaniego A, Wang Y, Veitch D, Genovesi P, Pascal M, Saunders A, Tershy B (2007) Invasive rodent eradication on islands. Conserv Biol 21:1258–1268
Igual JM, Forero MG, Gomez T, Orueta JG, Oro D (2006) Rat control and breeding performance in Cory’s Shearwaters: effects of poisoning effort and habitat features. Anim Conserv 9:59–65
Imber MJ (1976) The effects of rats on breeding success of petrels. In: Moors PJ (ed) The ecology and control of rodents in New Zealand nature reserves. In: Proceedings of a symposium convened by the department of lands and survey, Wellington, 67–71
IUCN (2012) IUCN red list of threatened species. Version 2012.1. www.iucnredlist.org. Accessed 28 Jun 2012
Jones PH, Tershy BR, Zavaleta ES, Croll DA, Keitt BS, Finkelstein ME, Howald GR (2008) Severity of the effects of invasive rats on seabirds: a global review. Conserv Biol 22:16–26
Martin JL, Thibault JC, Bretagnolle V (2000) Black rats, island characteristics, and colonial nesting birds in the Mediterranean: consequences of an ancient introduction. Conserv Biol 14:1452–1466
Nevitt GA (2008) Review sensory ecology on the high seas: the odor world of the procellariiform seabirds. J Exp Boil 211:1706–1713
Oppel S, Raine AF, Borg JJ, Raine H, Bonnaud E, Bourgeois K, Breton AR (2011) Is the Yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan threatened by low adult survival probabilities? Biol Conserv 144:2255–2263
Pascal M, Chapuis J-L (2000) Éradication de mammifères introduits en milieux insulaires : questions préalables et mise en application. Revue d’Écol (Terre & Vie) Suppl. 7:85–104
Pascal M, Lorvelec O, Bretagnolle V, Culioli J-M (2008) Improving the breeding success of a colonial seabird: a cost-benefit comparison of the eradication and control of its rat predator. Endanger Species Res 4:267–277
Ruffino L, Vidal E (2010) Early colonization of Mediterranean Islands by Rattus rattus: a review of zooarcheological data. Biol Invasions 12:2389–2394
Ruffino L, Bourgeois K, Vidal E, Icard J, Torre F, Legrand J (2008) Introduced predators and cavity-nesting seabirds: unexpected low level of interaction at breeding sites. Can J Zool 86:1068–1073
Ruffino L, Bourgeois K, Vidal E, Duhem C, Paracuellos M, Escribano F, Sposimo P, Baccetti N, Pascal M, Oro D (2009) Invasive rats and seabirds after 2,000 years of an unwanted coexistence on Mediterranean islands. Biol Invasions 11:1631–1651
Sangster G, Collinson JM, Crochet P-A, Knox AG, Parkin DT, Votier SC (2012) Taxonomic recommendations for British birds: eighth report. Ibis 154(4):874–883
Thibault JC (1995) Effect of predation by the black rat Rattus rattus on the breeding success of Cory’s Shearwater Calonectris diomedea in Corsica. Marine Ornithol 23:1–10
Towns D, Atkinson IAE, Daugherty CH (2006) Have the harmful effects of rats been exaggerated? Biol Invasions 4:863–891
Vidal P (1985) Premières observations sur la biologie de la reproduction du puffin des anglais Puffinus puffinus yelkouan sur les îles d’Hyères (France). In: Thibault JC, Guyot I, Cheylan G (eds) Oiseaux marins nicheurs du Midi et de la Corse. Annales du Centre de Recherche Ornithologique de Provence, n 2, Aix-en-Provence, pp 58–62
Vigne J-D (1988) Données préliminaires sur l’histoire du peuplement mammalien de l’îlot de Zembra (Tunisie). Mammalia 52(4):567–574
Warham J (1996) The behaviour, population biology and physiology of the petrels. Academic Press, London
Acknowledgments
Funds and support were provided by the Conservatoire du Littoral through the PIM Initiative (Petites Îles de Méditerranée) and by the Tunisian agency APAL (Agence de Protection et d’Aménagement du Littoral). We are very grateful to the Director of the APAL and the Tunisian Army for granting permission and providing support to conduct this research. We thank particularly Sami Ben Haj for being the link between French and Tunisian actors of this project and all those of the ASPEN (Association de Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Environnemental et Naturel tunisien), CEN PACA (Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur), Conservatoire du Littoral and IMEP (Institut Méditerranéen d’Ecologie et de Paléoécologie), who helped us during eradication and field work, especially Patrick Vidal, Louis Dutouquet, Patrick Hamon, Jean-Patrick Durand, Saleh Amar, Abdelkader Lalaoui, Hamza Belkahla, Beyrem Milady, Mohammed Ali Ben Dhafer, Rachid El Bach, Wahbi Jaouadi, Mounir, Abdallah Ben Dhafer, Lise Ruffino, Giovanna Spano and Massimo Putzu. Warm thanks to Pierre Yésou and Éric Vidal who commented the first drafts of this publication and made several useful and pertinent suggestions, and to the two referees who contributed in depth to clarify reasoning.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bourgeois, K., Ouni, R., Pascal, M. et al. Dramatic increase in the Zembretta Yelkouan shearwater breeding population following ship rat eradication spurs interest in managing a 1500-year old invasion. Biol Invasions 15, 475–482 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0419-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-013-0419-x