Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Invasion and eradication of the American mink in the Atlantic Islands National Park (NW Spain): a retrospective analysis

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biological Invasions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Alien predators exert severe effects on island ecosystems, and their eradication from island habitats may therefore be necessary to conserve the native biota. Efforts are being made to eradicate the American mink (Neovison vison) from the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park (NW Spain), a protected site inhabited by vulnerable island fauna. We applied a molecular genetic approach to elucidate the source of the invaders and to evaluate the effectiveness of the trapping programme. We collected mink scats in the field and obtained tissue samples from culled mink. Populations of feral mink were known to be present in coastal areas close to the National Park archipelagos in the 1980–1990s. However, the molecular findings suggest that these populations were not the main source of the mink populations that colonized the islands during the 2000s. Recent releases from farms directly on to the islands are a more likely source of these invaders. Genetic analysis suggested that mink reproduced successfully on the islands and were relatively isolated from other mainland populations. The findings also suggest that most of the culled mink were juveniles, probably because it was more difficult to catch adults. Since mink are short-lived animals, it seems that eradication may also be achieved when a large proportion of juveniles are culled in isolated and small populations.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Abdelkrim J, Pascal M, Calmet C, Samadi S (2005) Importance of assessing population genetic structure before eradication of invasive species: examples from insular Norway rat populations. Conserv Biol 19:1509–1518

    Google Scholar 

  • Adams AL, van Heezik Y, Dickinson KJM, Robertson BC (2014) Identifying eradication units in an invasive mammalian pest species. Biol Invasions 16:1481–1496

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson DP, McMurtrie P, Edge KA, Baxter PWJ, Byrom AE (2016) Inferential and forward projection modelling to evaluate options for controlling invasive mammals on islands. Ecol Appl. doi:10.1002/eap.1415

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Austerlitz F, Jung-Muller B, Godelle B, Gouyon PH (1997) Evolution of coalescence times, genetic diversity and structure during colonization. Theor Popul Biol 51:148–164

    Google Scholar 

  • Barros A, Alvarez D, Velando A (2014) Long-term reproductive impairment in a seabird after the Prestige oil spill. Biol Lett 10:20131041

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Barros Á, Romero R, Munilla I, Pérez C, Velando A (2016) Behavioural plasticity in nest-site selection of a colonial seabird in response to an invasive carnivore. Biol Invasions 18:3149–3161

    Google Scholar 

  • Belkhir K, Borsa P, Chikhi L, Raufaste N, Bonhomme F (2004) GENETIX 4.05, logiciel sous Windows TM pour la génétique des populations. In: Laboratoire Génome, populations, interactions, CNRS UMR 5171, Université de Montpellier II, Montpellier

  • Bifolchi A, Picard D, Lemaire C, Cormier JP, Pagano A (2010) Evidence of admixture between differentiated genetic pools at a regional scale in an invasive carnivore. Conserv Genet 11:1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Björsson TE, Heirstensson P (1991) Mink in southern Breidfjordur Bay. Wildlife Management News (Iceland), 7, 3–12. In: Macdonald D, Strachan R (eds) The mink and the water vole. Analyses for Conservation. Wildlife Conservation Research Unit and the Environment Agency, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn TM, Cassey P, Duncan RP, Evans KL, Gaston KJ (2004) Avian extinction and mammalian introductions on oceanic islands. Science 305:1955–1958

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bock DG, Caseys C, Cousens RD, Hahn MA, Heredia SM, Hübner S, Turner KG, Whitney KD, Rieseberg LH (2015) What we still don’t know about invasion genetics. Mol Ecol 24:2277–2297

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bonesi L, Macdonald DW (2004) Impact of released Eurasian otters on a population of American mink: a test using an experimental approach. Oikos 106:9–18

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonesi L, Palazón S (2007) The American mink in Europe: status, impacts, and control. Biol Conserv 134:470–483

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonesi L, Harrington LA, Maran T, Sidorovich VE, Macdonald DW (2006) Demography of three populations of American mink Neovison vison in Europe. Mammal Review 36:98–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonesi L, Rushton SP, Macdonald DW (2007) Trapping for mink control and water vole survival: identifying key criteria using a spatially explicit individual based model. Biol Conserv 136:636–650

    Google Scholar 

  • Borgatti SP (2002) Netdraw network visualization. Analytic Technologies, Harvard

    Google Scholar 

  • Caswell H (2001) Matrix population models: construction, analysis, and interpretation, 2nd edn. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Courchamp F, Chapuis J-L, Pascal M (2003) Mammal invaders on islands: impact, control and control impact. Biol Rev 78:347–383

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Courchamp F, Berec L, Gascoigne J (2008) Allee effects in ecology and conservation. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Craik C (1997) Long-term effects of North American Mink Mustela vision on seabirds in western Scotland. Bird Study 44:303–309

    Google Scholar 

  • Dawson J, Oppel S, Cuthbert RJ, Holmes N, Bird JP, Butchart SH, Spatz DR, Tershy B (2015) Prioritizing islands for the eradication of invasive vertebrates in the United Kingdom overseas territories. Conserv Biol 29:143–153

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Delibes M (1983) Distribution and ecology of the Iberian Carnivores: a short review. Act. XV Cong. Int. Biol. Caza, 359–378. Trujillo, España. In: Vidal T, Delibes M (Eds.) Primeros datos sobre el visón americano (Mustela vison) en el suroeste de Galicia y noroeste de Portugal. Ecología 1, 145–152

  • Dlugosch KM, Parker IM (2008) Founding events in species invasions: genetic variation, adaptive evolution, and the role of multiple introductions. Mol Ecol 17:431–449

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dunstone N (1993) The mink. T. & A.D. Poyser Ltd., London

    Google Scholar 

  • Estoup A, Guillemaud T (2010) Reconstructing routes of invasion using genetic data: Why, how and so what? Mol Ecol 19:4113–4130

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Evanno G, Regnaut S, Goudet J (2005) Detecting the number of clusters of individuals using the software structure: a simulation study. Mol Ecol 14:2611–2620

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Facon B, Pointier JP, Jarne P, Sarda V, David P (2008) High genetic variance in life-history strategies within invasive populations by way of multiple introductions. Curr Biol 18:363–367

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fernández J, Toro MA (2006) A new method to estimate relatedness from molecular markers. Mol Ecol 15:1657–1667

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fitzpatrick BM, Fordyce JA, Niemiller ML, Reynolds RG (2012) What can DNA tell us about biological invasions? Biol Invasions 14:245–253

    Google Scholar 

  • Fleming MA, Ostrander EA, Cook JA (1999) Microsatellite markers for American mink (Mustela vison) and ermine (Mustela erminea). Mol Ecol 8:1352–1354

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Forsman A (2014) Effects of genotypic and phenotypic variation on establishment are important for conservation, invasion, and infection biology. Proc Natl Acad Sci 111:302–307

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fraser EJ, Macdonald DW, Oliver MK, Piertney S, Lambin X (2013) Using population genetic structure of an invasive mammal to target control efforts—an example of the American mink in Scotland. Biol Conserv 167:35–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Fraser CI, Banks SC, Waters JM (2015) Priority effects can lead to underestimation of dispersal and invasion potential. Biol Invasions 17:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Funk JL (2015) Invasive species: a global problem in need of a global solution. BioSci biv053

  • Gerell R (1970) Population studies on mink Mustela vison in southern Sweden. Oikos 8:83–109

    Google Scholar 

  • Guo SW, Thompson EA (1992) A Montecarlo method for combined segregation and linkage analysis. Am J Hum Genet 51:1111–1126

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hammershøj M, Pertoldi C, Asferg T, Moller TB, Kristensen NB (2005) Danish free-ranging mink populations consist mainly of farm animals: evidence from microsatellite and stable isotope analyses. J Nat Conserv 13:267–274

    Google Scholar 

  • Hood GM (2010) PopTools version 3.2.5. url http://www.poptools.org

  • Jones OR, Wang J (2010) COLONY: a program for parentage and sibship inference from multilocus genotype data. Mol Ecol Resour 10:551–555

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kalinowski ST, Wagner AP, Taper ML (2006) ML-Relate: a computer program for maximum likelihood estimation of relatedness and relationship. Mol Ecol Notes 6:576–579

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Keitt B, Campbell K, Saunders A, Clout M, Wang Y, Heinz R, Newton K, Tershy B (2011) The global islands invasive vertebrate eradication database: a tool to improve and facilitate restoration of island ecosystems. In: Veitch C, Clout M, Towns D (eds) Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, pp 74–77

    Google Scholar 

  • Lawson Handley JL, Estoup A, Evans DM, Thomas CE, Lombaert E, Facon B, Roy HE (2011) Ecological genetics of invasive alien species. Biocontrol 56:409–428

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Corre V, Kremer A (1998) Cumulative effects of founding events during colonisation on genetic diversity and differentiation in an island and stepping-stone model. J Evol Biol 11:495–512

    Google Scholar 

  • Le Roux J, Wieczorek AM (2009) Molecular systematics and population genetics of biological invasions: towards a better understanding of invasive species management. Ann Appl Biol 154:1–17

    Google Scholar 

  • Lecis R, Ferrando A, Ruiz-Olmo I, Manas S, Domingo-Roura X (2008) Population genetic structure and distribution of introduced American mink (Mustela vison) in Spain, based on microsatellite variation. Conserv Genet 9:1149–1161

    Google Scholar 

  • Lee CE (2002) Evolutionary genetics of invasive species. Trends Ecol Evol 17:386–391

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockwood JL, Hoopes MF, Marchetti MP (2009) Invasion Ecology. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Macdonald DW, Harrington LA (2003) The American mink: the triumph and tragedy of adaptation out of context. N Z J Zool 30:421–441

    Google Scholar 

  • Manchester SJ, Bullock JM (2000) The impacts of non-native species on UK biodiversity and the effectiveness of control. J Appl Ecol 37:845–864

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald RA, O’Hara K, Morrish DJ (2007) Decline of invasive alien mink (Mustela vison) is concurrent with recovery of native otters (Lutra lutra). Divers Distrib 13:92–98

    Google Scholar 

  • Medina FM, Bonnaud E, Vidal E, Nogales M (2014) Underlying impacts of invasive cats on islands: not only a question of predation. Biodivers Conserv 23:327–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Melero Y, Robinson E, Lambin X (2015) Density-and age-dependent reproduction partially compensates culling efforts of invasive non-native American mink. Biol Invasions 17:2645–2657

    Google Scholar 

  • Michalska-Parda A, Brzeziński M, Zalewski A, Kozakiewicz M (2009) Genetic variability of feral and ranch American mink Neovison vison in Poland. Acta Theriol 54:1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Moore NP, Roy SS, Helyar A (2003) Mink (Mustela vison) eradication to protect ground-nesting birds in the Western Isles, Scotland, United Kingdom. N Z J Zool 30:443–452

    Google Scholar 

  • Nei M (1972) Genetic distance between populations. Am Nat 106:283–291

    Google Scholar 

  • Nordström M, Högmander J, Nummelin J, Laine J, Laanetu N, Korpimäki E (2002) Variable response of waterfowl breeding populations to long-term removal of introduced American mink. Ecography 25:385–394

    Google Scholar 

  • O’Connell M, Wright JM, Farid A (1996) Development of PCR primers for nine polymorphic American mink Mustela vison microsatellite loci. Mol Ecol 5:311–312

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paetkau D, Slade R, Burden M, Estoup A (2004) Direct, real-time estimation of migration rate using assignment methods: a simulation-based exploration of accuracy and power. Mol Ecol 13:55–65

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pereira P (2006) Estudio de la metodología para el control de la población de visón americano en el archipiélago de Sálvora en el Parque Nacional Islas Atlánticas de Galicia. Unpublished report

  • Pimentel D (ed) (2011) Biological invasions: economic and environmental costs of alien plant, animal, and microbe species. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Piry S, Alapetite A, Cornuet JM, Paetkau D, Baudouin L, Estoup A (2004) GENECLASS2: a software for genetic assignment and first-generation migrant detection. J Hered 95:536–539

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rannala B, Mountain JL (1997) Detecting immigration by using multilocus genotypes. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 94:9197–9201

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe N, Craik C, Helyar A, Roy S, Scott M (2008) Modelling the benefits of American Mink Mustela vison management options for terns in west Scotland. Ibis 150:114–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Raymond M, Rousset F (1995) An exact test for population differentiation. Evolution 49:1280–1283

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Reaser JK, Meyerson LA, Cronk Q, De Poorter M, Eldrege LG, Green E, Kairo M, Latasi P, Mack RN, Mauremootoo J, O’Dowd D, Orapa W, Sastroutomo S, Saunders A, Shine C, Thrainsson S, Vaiutu L (2007) Ecological and socioeconomic impacts of invasive alien species in island ecosystems. Environ Conserv 34:98–111

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson BC, Gemmell NJ (2004) Defining eradication units in pest control programmes. J Appl Ecol 41:1032–1041

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodrigues DC, Simões L, Mullins J, Lampa S, Mendes RC, Fernandes C, Rebelo R, Santos-Reis M (2015) Tracking the expansion of the American mink (Neovison vison) range in NW Portugal. Biol Invasions 17:13–22

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Ramilo ST, Toro MA, Fernndez J (2009) Assessing population genetic structure via the maximisation of genetic distance. Genet Sel Evol 41:49

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rollins LA, Browning LE, Holleley CE, Savage JL, Russell AF, Griffith SC (2012) Building genetic networks using relatedness information: a novel approach for the estimation of dispersal and characterization of group structure in social animals. Mol Ecol 21:1727–1740

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Roy S (2011) Strategies to improve landscape scale management of mink populations in the west coast of Scotland: lessons learned from the Uists 2001–2006. In: Veitch CR, Clout MN, Towns DR (eds) Island invasives: eradication and management. IUCN, Gland, pp 114–117

    Google Scholar 

  • Roy SS, Chauvenet ALM, Robertson PA (2015) Removal of American mink (Neovison vison) from the Uists, Outer Hebrides, Scotland. Biol Invasions 17:2811–2820

    Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2009) The role of propagule pressure in biological invasions. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 40:81–102

    Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2011) How common are invasion-induced ecosystem impacts? Biol. Invasions 13:1255–1268

    Google Scholar 

  • Szpiech ZA, Rosenberg NA (2011) On the size distribution of private microsatellite alleles. Theor Popul Biol 80:100–113

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Szpiech ZA, Jakobsson M, Rosenberg NA (2008) ADZE: a rarefaction approach for counting alleles private to combinations of populations. Bioinformatics 24:2498–2504

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Takezaki N, Nei M, Tamura K (2014) POPTREEW: web version of POPTREE for constructing population trees from allele frequency data and computing some other quantities. Mol Biol Evol 31:1622–1624

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Thirstrup JP, Ruiz-Gonzalez A, Pujolar JM, Larsen PF, Jensen J, Randi E, Zalewski A, Pertoldi C (2015) Population genetic structure in farm and feral American mink (Neovison vison) inferred from RAD sequencing-generated single nucleotide polymorphisms. J Anim Sci 93:3773–3782

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tobin PC, Berec L, Liebhold AM (2011) Exploiting Allee effects for managing biological invasions. Ecol Lett 14:615–624

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Veale AJ, Clout MN, Gleeson DM (2012) Genetic population assignment reveals a long-distance incursion to an island by a stoat (Mustela erminea). Biol Invasions 14:735–742

    Google Scholar 

  • Veale AJ, Edge KA, McMurtrie P, Fewster RM, Clout MN, Gleeson DM (2013) Using genetic techniques to quantify reinvasion, survival and in situ breeding rates during control operations. Mol Ecol 22:5071–5083

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Velando A, Munilla I (2011) Conservación del Cormorán moñudo en el Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas. Boletín del Grupo Ibérico de Aves Marinas 35:5–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Vidal T, Delibes M (1987) Primeros datos sobre el visón americano (Mustela vison) en el Suroeste de Galicia y Noroeste de Portugal. Ecología 1:145–152

    Google Scholar 

  • Wagner AP, Creel S, Kalinowski ST (2006) Estimating relatedness and relationships using microsatellite loci with null alleles. Heredity 97:336–345

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J (2009) A new method for estimating effective population sizes from a single sample of multilocus genotypes. Mol Ecol 18:2148–2164

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang J (2013) An improvement on the maximum likelihood reconstruction of pedigrees from marker data. Heredity 111:165–174

    PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Weir BS, Cockerham CC (1984) Estimating F-statistics for the analysis of population structure. Evolution 38:1358–1370

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zalewski A, Piertney SB, Zalewska H, Lambin X (2009) Landscape barriers reduce gene flow in an invasive carnivore: geographical and local genetic structure of American mink in Scotland. Mol Ecol 18:1601–1615

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zalewski A, Michalska-Parda A, Bartoszewicz M, Kozakiewicz M, Brzeziński M (2010) Multiple introductions determine the genetic structure of an invasive species population: American mink Neovison vison in Poland. Biol Conserv 143:1355–1363

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuberogoitia I, Zabala J, Martínez JA (2006) Evaluation of sign surveys and trappability of American mink: Consequences for management. Folia Zool 55:257–263

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the staff at the Atlantic Islands of Galicia National Park and lighthouse keepers in the Island of Sálvora (Pepe, Julio and Carmen) for logistic support all over the study period. This study is based on the trapping programme performed by the National Park (Xunta de Galicia funds) with the active participation of the staff in Cíes and Sálvora islands. We are indebted to José Antonio Fernández, Director of the National Park, for his substantial support during this study. We also thank the Associate Editor and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful suggestions. Funding for this study was provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente (Organismo Autónomo Parques Nacionales, 275/2011).

Author information

Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Departamento de Ecoloxía e Bioloxía Animal, Universidade de Vigo, Campus As Lagoas, 36310, Vigo, Spain

      Alberto Velando

    2. Departamento de Xenética, Universidade de Vigo, Campus As Lagoas, 36310, Vigo, Spain

      Paloma Morán

    3. Plan de Control de Visón Americano y Gatos PN de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia, Pte. Salvador Allende n° 13 baixo A, 15701, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

      Rafael Romero

    4. Departamento de Mejora Genética Animal, Instituto Nacional de Investigación Tecnología Agraria y Alimentaria (INIA), Crta. A Coruña Km. 7.5, 28040, Madrid, Spain

      Jesús Fernández

    5. Consellería de Medio Ambiente e Ordenación do Territorio, Parque Nacional de las Islas Atlánticas de Galicia, Xunta de Galicia, Rúa Oliva, 36202, Vigo, Spain

      Vicente Piorno

    Authors
    1. Alberto Velando
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    2. Paloma Morán
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    3. Rafael Romero
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    4. Jesús Fernández
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    5. Vicente Piorno
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Alberto Velando.

    Additional information

    Alberto Velando, Paloma Morán and Rafael Romero have contributed equally to this work.

    Electronic supplementary material

    Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

    Supplementary material 1 (PDF 1606 kb)

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and permissions

    About this article

    Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

    Cite this article

    Velando, A., Morán, P., Romero, R. et al. Invasion and eradication of the American mink in the Atlantic Islands National Park (NW Spain): a retrospective analysis. Biol Invasions 19, 1227–1241 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1326-8

    Download citation

    • Received:

    • Accepted:

    • Published:

    • Issue Date:

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1326-8

    Keywords

    Search

    Navigation