Practical considerations for monitoring invasive mammal eradication outcomes

Abstract

Monitoring provides important evidence to evaluate if invasive mammal eradications on islands achieved conservation goals and to inform future allocation of conservation funds. However, monitoring can be costly, and compete with management actions for resources, so it is important that efforts are targeted. It can be difficult to obtain results of monitoring from previous projects, which puts future projects at a disadvantage when projecting possible conservation outcomes. In this short paper we discuss practical considerations for designing monitoring associated with an eradication programme. We focus on the ecological outcomes of invasive species eradication, as opposed to speci?cally monitoring if an eradication was successful or not. We identify major motivations for undertaking monitoring and present a decision tree intended to improve the efficiency of monitoring by supporting project managers determining when and what to monitor, and how to incorporate monitoring into project planning.