Invasive rat eradication strongly impacts plant recruitment on a tropical atoll

PloS One
Coral A WolfDonald A Croll

Abstract

Rat eradication has become a common conservation intervention in island ecosystems and its effectiveness in protecting native vertebrates is increasingly well documented. Yet, the impacts of rat eradication on plant communities remain poorly understood. Here we compare native and non-native tree and palm seedling abundance before and after eradication of invasive rats (Rattus rattus) from Palmyra Atoll, Line Islands, Central Pacific Ocean. Overall, seedling recruitment increased for five of the six native trees species examined. While pre-eradication monitoring found no seedlings of Pisonia grandis, a dominant tree species that is important throughout the Pacific region, post-eradication monitoring documented a notable recruitment event immediately following eradication, with up to 688 individual P. grandis seedlings per 100m2 recorded one month post-eradication. Two other locally rare native trees with no observed recruitment in pre-eradication surveys had recruitment post-rat eradication. However, we also found, by five years post-eradication, a 13-fold increase in recruitment of the naturalized and range-expanding coconut palm Cocos nucifera. Our results emphasize the strong effects that a rat eradication can have on tree re...Continue Reading

Associated Datasets

References

Jun 9, 2004·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·E Matisoo-Smith, J H Robins
Feb 8, 2008·Conservation Biology : the Journal of the Society for Conservation Biology·Holly P JonesGregg R Howald
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May 25, 2012·Scientific Reports·Douglas J McCauleyFiorenza Micheli
Mar 24, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Holly P JonesDonald A Croll
Sep 18, 2016·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Tim S DohertyChris R Dickman

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Citations

Nov 10, 2020·Biological Reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society·Leslie NgDevi Stuart-Fox

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