Past and estimated future impact of invasive alien mammals on insular threatened vertebrate populations

62Citations
Citations of this article
184Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Invasive mammals on islands pose severe, ongoing threats to global biodiversity. However, the severity of threats from different mammals, and the role of interacting biotic and abiotic factors in driving extinctions, remain poorly understood at a global scale. Here we model global extirpation patterns for island populations of threatened and extinct vertebrates. Extirpations are driven by interacting factors including invasive rats, cats, pigs, mustelids and mongooses, native species taxonomic class and volancy, island size, precipitation and human presence. We show that controlling or eradicating the relevant invasive mammals could prevent 41-75% of predicted future extirpations. The magnitude of benefits varies across species and environments; for example, managing invasive mammals on small, dry islands could halve the extirpation risk for highly threatened birds and mammals, while doing so on large, wet islands may have little benefit. Our results provide quantitative estimates of conservation benefits and, when combined with costs in a return-on-investment framework, can guide efficient conservation strategies.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

McCreless, E. E., Huff, D. D., Croll, D. A., Tershy, B. R., Spatz, D. R., Holmes, N. D., … Wilcox, C. (2016). Past and estimated future impact of invasive alien mammals on insular threatened vertebrate populations. Nature Communications, 7. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12488

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free