Do Invasive Mammal Eradications from Islands Support Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation?

Abstract

Climate change represents a planetary emergency that is exacerbating the loss of native biodiversity. In response, efforts promoting climate change adaptation strategies that improve ecosystem resilience and/or mitigate climate impacts are paramount. Invasive Alien Species are a key threat to islands globally, where strategies such as preventing establishment (biosecurity), and eradication, especially invasive mammals, have proven effective for reducing native biodiversity loss and can also advance ecosystem resilience and create refugia for native species at risk from climate change. Furthermore, there is growing evidence that successful eradications may also contribute to mitigating climate change. Given the cross-sector potential for eradications to reduce climate impacts alongside native biodiversity conservation, we sought to understand when conservation managers and funders explicitly sought to use or fund the eradication of invasive mammals from islands to achieve positive climate outcomes. To provide context, we first summarized available literature of the synergistic relationship between invasive species and climate change, including case studies where invasive mammal eradications served to meet climate adaptation or mitigation solutions. Second, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and eradication-related conference proceedings to identify when these synergistic effects of climate and invasive species were explicitly addressed through eradication practices. Third, we reviewed projects from four large funding entities known to support climate change solutions and/or native biodiversity conservation efforts and identified when eradications were funded in a climate change context. The combined results of our case study summary paired with systematic reviews found that, although eradicating invasive mammals from islands is an effective climate adaptation strategy, island eradications are poorly represented within the climate change adaptation and mitigation funding framework. We believe this is a lost opportunity and encourage eradication practitioners and funders of climate change adaptation to leverage this extremely effective nature-based tool into positive conservation and climate resilience solutions.

Incorporating management action suitability in conservation plans

“…Our study represents the first strategic national assessment of PF 2050 tool deployment and highlights how our novel modelling approach can inform complex, landscape-scale conservation objectives. We envision our research being informative to policymakers who can incorporate it alongside other considerations to address national and international challenges related to global change, such as biosecurity (Faulkner et al, 2020), climate change (Kappes et al, 2021) and human well-being (de Wit et al, 2020).…”

Long transient response of vegetation dynamics after four millennia of anthropogenic impacts in an island ecosystem

“…Vegetation dynamics in sa Dragonera show similar increasing trends to those recorded in many regions of the industrialized world due mainly to climate warming, land‐use changes and rural abandonment (Cervera et al, 2019 ; García et al, 2019 ; Scheffers et al, 2016 ; Winkler et al, 2021 ). In islands where conservation actions have eradicated invasive herbivore mammals, the increase in plant communities and forested cover have been even larger (Kappes et al, 2021 ; Luna‐Mendoza et al, 2019 ; Médail, 2017 ). A singularity of sa Dragonera was that owing to its small size, human settlements were historically nil or much reduced, which likely caused the lack of introduced carnivores (Bover & Alcover, 2008 ) and the persistence of endemic lizards, which play an important role as shrub seed dispersers (Traveset & Riera, 2005 ).…”

Automated Hyperspectral Feature Selection and Classification of Wildlife Using Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles

“…Eliminating invasive mammals from islands is a proven tool for kickstarting the recovery of island species and habitats. This recovery has been increasingly linked to mitigating and adapting to climate change, improved human wellbeing, and strengthening land-sea connections and coastal ecosystems [2][3][4][5][6].…”