Araceli Samaniego-Herrera

Islands of the world

Invasive vertebrates are a leading cause of extinction on islands and rats (Rattus spp.) are one of the most damaging to island ecosystems. Methods to eradicate rats from islands are well established and there have been over 580 successful eradications to date. Increasingly, rat eradications are being implemented on tropical islands, a reflection o...

Eradications of invasive rodents from tropical islands have a lower success rate compared to temperate islands. In the tropics the wide range of physical and biological conditions results in a wide variety of island biomes, with unique challenges and windows of opportunity for rodent eradications. We describe and compare research and operational de...

Removing invasive rodents from islands has many ecological and social benefits. However, eradications fail more frequently on tropical than on temperate islands, and causes for these failures are not yet well understood. We addressed two major plausible reasons for eradication failure, testing whether actively reproducing females and pre-weaned pup...

Island rodent eradications are increasingly conducted to eliminate the negative impacts of invasive rodents. The success rate in the tropics has been lower than in temperate regions, triggering research and reviews. Environmental factors unique to the tropics (e.g., land crabs and year‐round rodent breeding) have been associated with eradication fa...

Predator Free 2050 (PF2050) is a government initiative aiming to eradicate selected invasive mammals (mustelids, rats, and possums) from New Zealand (NZ) by 2050. Selecting which of 32 introduced mammal species to include has received little evaluation, yet targeting a few species often results in perverse ecological outcomes given interactions wit...

Cats (Felis catus) are among the most damaging invasive predators in the world, and their impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand (NZ) are particularly severe. However, unlike the invasive predators that are targeted for eradication under the Predator Free NZ initiative, cats are also highly valued by people and therefore will likely remain widespread in N...

Aotearoa - New Zealand has only four rodent species, all introduced. In order of arrival, they are Pacific rat Rattus exulans Peale, brown rat R. norvegicus Berkenhout, house mouse Mus musculus Linnaeus, and black rat R. rattus Linnaeus. Rodent management in New Zealand aims mainly to conserve indigenous biodiversity rather than to protect crops or...

Invasive species pose the highest overall threat to seabirds, affecting the most species and the greatest impact based on the timing, scope, and severity. Invasive mammals have been proven the most harmful on seabird breeding islands, and important advances have been made towards solutions to prevent, control, or eradicate these impacts to seabirds...

Islands support unique plants, animals, and human societies found nowhere else on the Earth. Local and global stressors threaten the persistence of island ecosystems, with invasive species being among the most damaging, yet solvable, stressors. While the threat of invasive terrestrial mammals on island flora and fauna is well recognized, recent stu...

Context House mice (Mus musculus) on temperate Gough Island (6500 ha) are known for their large size, boldness, and tendency to kill large prey such as albatross chicks and even adults. To remove this threat, a mouse eradication operation was implemented in June–August 2021. How mice react to bait during eradications is not well understood, so we c...

Islands are global hotspots for biodiversity and extinction, representing ~ 5% of Earth’s land area alongside 40% of globally threatened vertebrates and 61% of global extinctions since the 1500s. Invasive species are the primary driver of native biodiversity loss on islands, though eradication of invasive species from islands has been effective at...

Context House mice (Mus musculus) are the main drivers of biodiversity declines on Gough Island (6500 ha; 40°21′S, 009°53′W), central South Atlantic. A mouse eradication operation was planned, the largest global attempt targeting only this species. Understanding and managing challenges of operating at such scales are crucial for maximising the chan...

Genetic diversity can affect population viability and can be reduced by both acute and chronic mechanisms. Using the history of the establishment and management of two invasive rat species on Tetiaroa atoll, French Polynesia, we investigated the intensity and longevity of contrasting population bottleneck mechanisms on genetic diversity and bottlen...

San Benito Archipelago is internationally important for the conservation of 13 species of seabirds. San Benito Oeste, the largest and only inhabited island, was declared mammal-free in 2000 after a series of eradications conducted in collaboration between the fishing cooperative Pescadores Nacionales de Abulón, the Mexican conservation organization...

Island rodent eradication is often a prerequisite for ecological restoration. These operations have been scaling up in size and complexity, and typically revolve around the thorough distribution of rodenticides in bait stations, by hand broadcast, by helicopter-borne spreading buckets, or by combinations of these methods. Many of the requirements o...

Restoration of the Mexican Islands - A comprehensive review to date.

We successfully eradicated rats from Reiono Island despite reducing the interval between bait applications from the recommended 10-21 days to 7 days, and reducing bait availability from the recommended >4 nights, to 2 nights. We focused on meeting the eradication principle of exposing all rats to poison bait by ensuring complete bait coverage acros...

Island rodent eradication is often a prerequisite for ecological restoration. These operations have been scaling up in size and complexity, and typically revolve around the thorough distribution of rodenticides in bait stations, by hand broadcast, by helicopter-borne spreading buckets, or by combinations of these methods. Many of the requirements o...

Invasive rodent eradications are one of the most effective conservation interventions to restore island ecosystems. However, achievements in the tropics are lagging behind those in temperate regions. Land crab interference in bait uptake has been identified as one of the main causes of rodent eradication failure on tropical islands, but the issue o...

Islands are biodiversity hotspots that offer unique opportunities for applied restoration techniques that have proven to bring inspiring outcomes. The trajectory of island restoration in Mexico is full of positive results that include (1) the removal of 60 invasive mammal populations from 39 islands, (2) the identification of conservation and resto...

For effective and efficient pest management it is essential to understand the ecology of the target species and recipient ecosystems. The use of rodent eradication as a restoration tool is well established in temperate regions, but less common in the tropics, presenting an opportunity to undertake scientific learning in tandem with rodent eradicati...

Confirmation of invasive species eradication following management programmes is typically determined by waiting an arbitrary period of time before determining success or failure based upon the then obvious presence or absence of the target species. Rapid eradication assessment could be achieved more expediently by applying statistical models of the...

Mexico has nearly 4000 islands that host a disproportionate number of endemic species, with 14 times more endemics than the mainland. Islands are not just unique ecosystems but they are also key habitat for the provisioning, reproduction and refuge of many migratory species, particularly seabirds, seaturtles and pinnipeds. Mexican islands harbor on...

More than US$21 billion is spent annually on biodiversity conservation. Despite their importance for preventing or slowing extinctions and preserving biodiversity, conservation interventions are rarely assessed systematically for their global impact. Islands house a disproportionately higher amount of biodiversity compared with mainlands, much of w...

The conservation of tropical islands is key for global biodiversity and central to the growing field of island restoration is the removal of invasive rodents. There are 25 biodiversity hotspots at the global scale; 16 of these are in the tropics and nine are mainly or completely made up of islands, including most tropical islands. The 500+ rodent e...

El Territorio Insular Mexicano es un patrimonio natural nacional de gran importancia para la soberanía, la biodiversidad y los recursos naturales. Desde hace 20 años, las ricas islas mexicanas son motivo de un programa sistemático de restauración ambiental de gran calado. En las islas de México: a) se aprovechan recursos pesqueros por parte de comu...

Central to the growing field of island ecological restoration is the removal of invasive rodents. The lack of information on rodent tropical ecology is a limiting factor for the success of such eradication attempts on tropical islands worldwide. In Mexico, 14 successful rodent eradications have occurred, 6 of them on dry and wet tropical islands, a...

Eradication of introduced rodents on islands is increasingly implemented as a conservation tool. Aerial baiting, currently the main eradication technique, provides no information on whether eradication has been achieved. Success is usually evaluated after a standard period of 2 years with no sign of rodents. We describe a novel approach to assess t...

This comment draws attention to some of the contents in the paper of Tershy et al. (Biodivers Conserv 21:957–965, 2012) concerning the work of Island Conservation, an NGO. In particular, it clarifies and explains the role of partnerships with other bodies in the restoration and other work of the NGO. We point out that the Mexican Grupo de Ecología...

On Mexican islands, 20 island endemic species and subspecies of vertebrates have gone extinct in the last 100 years; all but four of these extinctions were caused by invasive mammals. To prevent more extinctions, 49 populations of 12 invasive mammals were eradicated from 30 Mexican islands. These actions protected 202 endemic taxa – 22 mammals, 31...

Actualmente, en el país residen al menos 46 de las 100 especies invasoras más dañinas del mundo y están afectando los ecosistemas en todo el territorio nacional. Solo la suma de plantas vasculares y vertebrados invasores registrados en México es de 724 especies. Esta cifra sin duda es una subestimación debido a que los esfuerzos dirigidos a enfrent...

In the Gulf of California, Mexico, several islands have been severely impacted by introduced rats (Rattus spp.). A rat eradication project for Farallón de San Ignacio and San Pedro Mártir islands, both globally important seabird colonies, unfolded from planning and baseline studies in 2005 to implementation in 2007. Rats were eradicated via aerial...

Islands harbor a disproportionate amount of the earth's biodiversity, but a significant portion has been lost due in large part to the impacts of invasive mammals. Fortunately, invasive mammals can be routinely removed from islands, providing a powerful tool to prevent extinctions and restore ecosystems. Given that invasive mammals are still presen...

We collected two specimens of Reithrodontomys megalotis on Magdalena Island on the Pacific Ocean side of Baja California Sur. They represent the first insular record of the species in Mexico. These records extend the distribution range of the species about 450 km south of the southernmost record of R. megalotis in Baja California. In addition, t...

Invasive mammals are the greatest threat to island biodiversity and invasive rodents are likely responsible for the greatest number of extinctions and ecosystem changes. Techniques for eradicating rodents from islands were developed over 2 decades ago. Since that time there has been a significant development and application of this conservation too...

New records of insular distribution of four reptiles from northwestern México are provided: Anniella pulchra (Todos Santos Norte island), Phyllodactylus homolepidurus, (Farallón de San Ignacio island), Bipes biporus (Magdalena island) and Chilomeniscus stramineus (Santa Margarita island).

Las California Channel Islands, USA, y la islas del Pacífico de Baja California (en adelante islas de California) son conocidas por sus altos niveles de biodiversidad y mundialmente importantes colonias de aves marinas. Documentamos la historia, impactos y manejo de los mamíferos introducidos y reportamos el estado actual de los mamíferos nativos n...

Comisión Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas, 2005. “Estudio Previo Justificativo para el establecimiento de la Reserva de la Biosfera Islas del Pacífico de California”. México, D.F., pp. 169 + 3 anexos. Las islas situadas en el Océano Pacífico de la Península de Baja California son reconocidas internacionalmente por su alta diversidad y abunda...

A large majority of recorded vertebrate and plant extinctions since 1600 have been of island species and introduced mammals are responsibility for the vast majority of these extinctions (Groombridge 1992). Commensal rodents (Rattus spp. and M. musculus) are the most wide-spread and damaging of the introduced mammals (Atkinson 1985). They are direct...