Localisation
SPREP LIBRARY
Éditeur
International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN)
Année de publication:
2019
Lieu de publication
Gland, Switzerland
Description physique:
5 p.
Numéro d'appel
[EL]
Type de contenu
Langue
English
Identifiant de dossier:
623
Ancien numéro d'identification PEIN:
82484
Notes générales
Available online
Disponible en ligne
Rubrique(s) thématique(s)
Invasive species
Résumé
The Chagos Archipelago comprises some 58 islands covering 5,000 ha in the centre of the Indian Ocean. Black rats (Rattus rattus) were introduced about 230 years ago and have likely had a severe impact on the native terrestrial fauna, which is dominated by seabirds and land crabs. Most of the archipelagos terrestrial land mass is vegetated with old coconut plantations, with over 75% of the native forest cleared for coconut from 26 of the largest islands. Likely as a result of this colonisation and clearance, at least 30 islands have rats present (95.3% of the Chagos landmass) along with feral cats (Felis catus) on 62%, which suppresses the recovery of native fauna and fl ora. Efforts at rat eradication include the failed attempt on Eagle Island (252 ha) in the northern Chagos Archipelago in 2006 and the recent success of a ground-based eradication on Île Vache Marine in 2014, where two applications of brodifacoum poison were hand-spread at a rate of 18 kg/ha. Two islets on the nearby Salomon atoll were also cleared of black rats during the same operation with single bait applications. The 2014 operation was successful on what are regarded as difficult islands for rat eradication, being wet tropical islands with land crabs and coconut plantations present, and has engendered confidence to proceed with additional rat eradications on other northern Chagos islands.
Localisation
SPREP LIBRARY
Éditeur
International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN)
Année de publication:
2019
Lieu de publication
Gland, Switzerland
Description physique:
5 p.
Numéro d'appel
[EL]
Type de contenu
Langue
English
Identifiant de dossier:
623
Ancien numéro d'identification PEIN:
82484
Notes générales
Available online
Dossier créé: 17-May-2019
Dossier modifié: 11-Jan-2024