Past and estimated future impact of invasive alien mammals on insular threatened vertebrate populations.

ABSTRACT: Invasive mammals on islands pose severe, ongoing threats to global biodiversity. However, the severity of threats from different mammals, and the role of interacting biotic and abiotic factors in driving extinctions, remain poorly understood at a global scale. Here we model global extirpation patterns for island populations of threatened and extinct vertebrates. Extirpations are driven by interacting factors including invasive rats, cats, pigs, mustelids and mongooses, native species taxonomic class and volancy, island size, precipitation and human presence. We show that controlling or eradicating the relevant invasive mammals could prevent 41-75% of predicted future extirpations. The magnitude of benefits varies across species and environments; for example, managing invasive mammals on sm

SUBMITTER: McCreless EE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4992154 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature