American body Preserve the island, dedicated specifically to the eradication of invasive species from islands (both animal and plant species), often gives as an example two islands of the Galapagos archipelago, Rapida and Pinzon, off the coast of South America. After the rats disappeared, a gecko was first noticed there, a small reptile believed to have disappeared there.
Removing rats from several islands could have an indirect effect on combating climate change, by helping the combined ecosystem that makes up an island and its coral reefs better withstand storms and rising sea levels: the health of the reefs already provides a better barrier and in doing so protects the island from Stripping.
You should know that the link between rats and corals is partly through the birds that come to lay their eggs on these reefs, and partly through the surrounding macroalgae (or macroalgae).
The association with birds has long been known: by eating eggs, mice decimated bird populations. On the other hand, the association with algae was not discovered until much later: macroalgae and corals compete for nutrients; When corals bleach due to warming, these algae take advantage and limit the corals’ ability to recover. gold, study A publication in 2019 revealed that the “rat-free” islands were home to more herbivorous fish, which subsequently devoured more of this algae.
The same study concluded that islands that retained bird populations had more of another type of algae, which helps corals damaged by bleaching recover faster.
However, the complexity of these interactions means that eradicating mice will not restore ecosystems overnight. Last March, the small island of Iroj in the Marshall Islands (Western Pacific Ocean), Decree “Without rats” was issued After a year of work by the Republic of the Marshall Islands and conservation of the islands. British biologist Casey Pinquet, of Lancaster University, is an expert in marine ecosystems, It is estimated, however, that it will take 15 years to the island’s ecosystem to recover partially.
