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Seasonal demography of different black rat (Rattus rattus) populations under contrasting natural habitats in Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles, Caribbean)

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Abstract

The black rat (Rattus rattus) is one of the most widespread rodents on islands worldwide, introduced over the last five centuries. However, reliable information concerning how biotic or abiotic factors influence key parameters of black rat population biology in insular contexts is currently unavailable. Here we aim to document the relative abundance of rat populations and evaluate how the age structure and the body mass of adult individual vary seasonally in different forest environments under contrasting climatic conditions. Rats were captured during wet and dry seasons in 2017–2018 at one or two sites in each of the four natural forested environments of Guadeloupe, all of which experience widely different annual rainfall (semi-deciduous dry forest, seasonal evergreen forest, mountain rainforest and Pterocarpus officinalis swamp forest). A total of 171 black rats were captured during a 1018 trap-night effort. Overall capture results confirm this species to thrive in all the natural forested environments we investigated. With the exception of the P. officinalis swamp forest, black rat populations reach higher relative abundances during the wet season due to juvenile and sub-adult recruitment at the end of the dry season. In contrast, in the P. officinalis swamp forest, breeding activity continues during both seasons and relative rat abundance appears to fluctuate less seasonally. The relative abundance of adult black rats is also higher in the seasonal semi-evergreen and rainforests that experience little or no water stress. These contexts therefore appear the most favourable for sustaining black rat populations, a pattern that is most likely connected to a combination of climatic and/or edaphic parameters that condition the year-round availability and abundance of food resources.

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Availability of data and material

The authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the manuscript and its supplementary information.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Guadeloupe National Park agents who provided the rat traps used during the capture sessions. A special thanks go to Daniel Imbert (University of Antilles), who helped us identify the capture sites and lent us some equipment. The authors are also grateful to “Météo-France” for providing data concerning weather conditions in Guadeloupe. The authors would also like to thank Zoé Thalaud for her help in preparing the rat skeletal material and the acquisition of biological data.

Funding

This study was conducted as a part of the CNRS ECSIT Project: « Écosystèmes insulaires tropicaux, réponse de la faune indigène terrestre de Guadeloupe à 6000 ans d’anthropisation du milieu », with financial support from the European PO-FEDER program (grant n° 2016-FED-503), the Guadeloupe Regional Council, and the DAC of Guadeloupe.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. UMR CNRS 5199, PACEA, Université de Bordeaux, Bâtiment B2 Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire CS, 50023 33615, Pessac cedex, France

    Jean Goedert, David Cochard & Arnaud Lenoble

  2. ESE, Ecology and Ecosystems Health, INRAE, Agrocampus Ouest, 35042, Rennes, France

    Olivier Lorvelec

  3. Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation (CESCO UMR 7204), Sorbonne Universités, MNHN, CNRS, UPMC, 43 rue Buffon, CP51, 75005, Paris, France

    Benoît Pisanu

  4. UMS 2006 Patrimoine Naturel, AFB, MNHN, CNRS, 36 rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 75005, Paris, France

    Benoît Pisanu

  5. Biogéosciences, UMR 6282 CNRS, Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, EPHE, 6 Boulevard Gabriel, 21000, Dijon, France

    Aurélien Royer

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  1. Jean Goedert
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  2. David Cochard
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  3. Arnaud Lenoble
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  4. Olivier Lorvelec
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Contributions

J.G., D.C., O.L., C.O., M.-T.C., A.R. and A. L. conceived the project. J.G. conducted stable isotopic analyses. C.O. and M.-T.C. conducted radiocarbon analyses. J.G., D.C., O.L., C.O., A.R. and A. L. wrote the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean Goedert.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

Trapping operations were reported to the ONCFS regional office and authorizations were provided by the Guadeloupe National Park (permits PNG-2017-81 and PNG-2018-15). This study did not involve any endangered or protected species. None of the captured black rats were subjected to experiments involving extended stress or suffering. All specimens were killed following recommendations (regulation UE 2010/63) for the small mammals weighing less than 1 kg (Annex IV).

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Communicated by: Joanna Stojak

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Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

Details concerning trapping season and black rat morphology by age class for 11 sites across 5 habitats of Guadeloupe. Values were averaged when at least 3 individuals recorded per season, site, and relative age. A = Adult; J + S = Juvenile + subadult; IND = indeterminate. The “Sprung” column includes only empty traps or those sprung by mongoose or hermit crabs. (DOCX 18 kb)

ESM 2

Details concerning the procedure employed for statistical analysis. (PDF 1031 kb)

ESM 3

Statistical tests concerning the relationship between the reproductive status of females and males with mean eye lens weight, eviscerated body mass of adults and corrected trapping rates by habitat and season for black rats (Rattus rattus) trapped between October 2017 and March 2018 on seven sites in Guadeloupe. Results whose credible interval is significantly different from 0 are in bold. (DOCX 13 kb)

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Goedert, J., Cochard, D., Lenoble, A. et al. Seasonal demography of different black rat (Rattus rattus) populations under contrasting natural habitats in Guadeloupe (Lesser Antilles, Caribbean). Mamm Res 65, 793–804 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13364-020-00523-w

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