Biologists document the secondary extinction of a disease-carrying mosquito following rat eradication on Palmyra Atoll

Date:  February 28, 2018

Source:  University of California - Santa Barbara

Summary:

The Asian tiger mosquito -- carrier of such diseases as dengue, yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, Chikungunya and Zika -- appears to have vanished from Palmyra.

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Wildlife boom expected after eradication of 30,000 rats on Pacific island

Aerial view of Palmyra Atoll. Copyright Island Conservation. Photo Erik Oberg

Unexpected positive results already being recorded
January 2013. Wildlife numbers are expected to rebound at Palmyra Atoll, a 580-acre collection of islets located about 1,000 miles south of Hawaii, that has been given a rat-free bill of health one year after about 30,000 rats were eradicated as part of a major effort to remove these invasive predators, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and Island Conservation (IC) announced.

Removing non-native rats was the top priority for the Palmyra Atoll Restoration Project, a multi-year effort to protect 10 nesting seabird species, migratory shorebirds, coconut crabs, and one of the largest, last remaining native Pisonia grandis forests (a rare flowering tree in the Bougainvillea family) in the tropical Pacific.

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South Georgia seabird sanctuary receives £250,000 to eradicate rats

World's largest rat eradication project awarded Defra funding 
February 2012: South Georgia Heritage Trust has been awarded £250,000 of UK Government money to help fund an ambitious rat eradication programme aimed at stopping catastrophic devastation of the island's unique wildlife.

The UK Government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) grant will help secure the survival of one of the world's most important seabird sanctuaries on the sub Antarctic island of South Georgia.

Ambitious three-year planThe habitat restoration project is an ambitious three-year plan to eradicate rats, which originally arrived on South Georgia as stowaways on sealing and whaling ships, but whose recent population explosion is having a devastating effect on the island's wildlife and ecology, especially its endemic bird populations.

Following years of planning, a highly successful pilot phase of the project was conducted in 2011, which witnessed the successful removal of rats from a tenth of the total infected area. 

The only effective way to eradicate rodents on an island the size of South Georgia is by air and two helicopters were used to deliver the rat bait. It took years of planning, but in just 26 days an 11-strong team of international experts spread 48 tonnes of bait over 128 sq km. 

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/georgia-sancturary.html

Rat eradication success in New Caledonia

Rare birds breeding in greater numbers - Courtesy of Birdlife
September 2011. As part of a David and Lucile Packard Foundation project Société Calédonienne d'Ornithologie (SCO) the BirdLife Partner in New Caledonia, undertook operations in 2008 to eradicate invasive Black Rats and Pacific Rat from three important seabird islands in New Caledonia. The latest follow up surveys has confirmed that Table, Double and Tiam'bouène islands are all officially rat-free, and the bird populations are already showing signs of recovery.

Wedge-tailed shearwater, Roseate tern, Fairy tern, Dark-brown honeyeater & Green-backed white-eye
The islands of Table (14 ha), Double ( 6 ha) and Tiam'bouène (17 ha) form part of the Îlots du Nord-Ouest Important Bird Areas (IBA) complex in Northwest New Caledonia. They are globally important for Wedge-tailed Shearwater Puffinus pacificus, Roseate Tern, Fairy Tern, Dark-brown Honeyeater and Green-backed White-eye which were being predated by introduced rats.

In September 2008 SCO completed operations to remove rats from the three islands, and the most recent follow up survey in mid-July 2011 has formally declared these operations successful following 24 months of rat-free monitoring.

Bird numbers recovering & new birds breeding
Already bird populations are showing signs of recovery, and [Vulnerable] Fairy Tern nested on the islands for the first time in 2010; Tiam'bouène hosting a colony of 28 active nests. Another very encouraging result is the first ever presence of [Near Threatened] Tahiti Petrel which was found breeding on Table Island in July 2011.

On each island, along with many new bird species being recorded, SCO report that the eco-systems are also showing positive signs of recovery. SCO are grateful for the support received from several individuals and organizations in completing these eradications and in particular thank the Pacific Invasives Initiative, the New Zealand Department of Conservation, and BirdLife International for their assistance.

The removal of rats on these islands is therefore an important starting point for the management of IBA islands Northwest. It is also an important action for the conservation of Fairy Tern in New Caledonia with between 70 and 90 pairs now found in the IBA out of a total of 130 pairs in the country.

Next steps are to continue monitoring the biodiversity recovery of the islands, seek the creation of nature reserves to protect the tern colonies from human disturbance, and to expand rat eradication to additional islands included within the IBAs complex.