Feral cats and biodiversity conservation: the urgent prioritization of island management
2013
Nogales, Manuel | Vidal, Éric | Medina, Félix M. | Bonnaud, Elsa | Tershy, Bernie R. | Campbell, Karl J. | Zavaleta, Erika S. | Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (España) | Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité | Agence Nationale de la Recherche (France) | Ministère de l'Écologie, du Développement durable et de l'Énergie (France)
A great part of the Earth's biodiversity occurs on islands, to which humans have brought a legion of invasive species that have caused population declines and even extinctions. The domestic cat is one of the most damaging species introduced to islands, being a primary extinction driver for at least 33 insular endemic vertebrates. Here, we examine the role of feral cats in the context of the island biodiversity crisis, by combining data from reviews of trophic studies, species conservation status reports, and eradication campaigns. The integration of these reviews permits us to identify priority islands where feral cat eradications are likely to be feasible and where cats are predicted to cause the next vertebrate extinctions. Funding agencies and global conservation organizations can use these results to prioritize scarce conservation funds, and national and regional natural resource management agencies can rank their islands in need of feral cat eradication within a global context.
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]This work was supported by several European Union projects: CGL-2004-0161 BOS, cofinanced by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education and the French institutions the Fondation pour la Recherche sur la Biodiversité (under its DREAMS project), the French National Research Agency (under its ALIENS project), and the Ministère du Développement Durable (under its Ecotropic program); EB was supported by a Conseil Régional de Provence—Alpes—Côte d'Azur PhD fellowship.
显示更多 [+] 显示较少 [-]Peer Reviewed
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