“Seabirds, crabs, geckos, and native flora are flourishing on Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet—two small islands in the Marshalls—after conservationists successfully eradicated invasive rats,” reports The Doomslayer.
The two islands are in the Pacific Ocean, in the Marshall Islands, a vast chain of volcanic islands and coral atolls between Hawaii and the Philippines. A news report describes the resurgence of seabirds, crabs, and geckos there:
Bikar Atoll and Jemo Islet are classic island paradises from above: white sand beaches, clear turquoise waters and lush forests. But over decades, the remote uninhabited islands were overcome by rats…
The rodents, which are invasive to the Marshall Islands and likely arrived as stowaways on ships, have caused ecological chaos. They devour native vegetation and prey on baby crabs, eggs and turtle hatchlings. The islands, which were once havens for the likes of endangered green sea turtles and seabird colonies, saw those populations decimated…
A year later, it’s a different story, thanks to an eradication program…Rat bait was dropped by drone in July 2024… The bait, designed to target rats, has little effect on other species….The team made the long trip back to the islands this summer, to see if their work paid off…
Within an hour on Jemo and Bikar, he was confident that it had worked, and following intensive monitoring with trail cameras, rat traps, spotlight searches and thermal detection equipment, they confirmed that rodents had been successfully eradicated from the two islands.
Seabird populations were soaring: a breeding colony of 2,000 sooty terns had established themselves on Bikar, whereas the year before there had been none. Jacques saw greater crested terns and brown noddies nesting on the ground, a Christmas shearwater — a dark-brown seabird which he says has never been recorded on Bikar before — and species of geckos and land crabs that were absent in 2024…
One of the most striking signs of success was the thousands of seedlings of the native Pisonia grandis trees that had sprung up across the forest floor. In 2024, they had counted zero.
“A tiny parasitic wasp has given a lifeline to one of the world’s rarest bird species by killing off an invasive insect that was threatening its survival,” reports The Guardian. “The Wilkins’ bunting lives on Nightingale Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha group, the world’s most remote inhabited archipelago. It eats the fruit of the Phylica arborea, the island’s only native tree….Researchers hatched an unorthodox plan to save the buntings, releasing a small parasitoid wasp called Microterys nietneri, which prevents the scale insects from breeding…Scientists believe that the wasps have helped save the birds from extinction.”
Thanks to an eradication program, “Palmerston Island in the South Pacific is now rat-free, leading to surging crop yields and biodiversity,” reports The Doomslayer. The New Zealand Department of Conservation explains:
A rat eradication operation took place on the atoll’s Home and Cooks islets over August and September 2023. Monitoring to confirm the atoll’s rat-free status was recently completed, with trail cameras and traps showing no evidence whatsoever of rats.
Arthur Neale, the atoll’s Executive Officer, says Palmerston’s rat-free status means the world to him and everyone else who lives on the atoll…
“Benefits from the rat eradication are already evident. Our food security has improved massively. Fruits like guava, mango and star fruit are now abundant and free from rat damage. Our nu mangaro (a coconut tree variety) are thriving. Vegetables, especially cucumbers, have seen an astonishing increase in yield.”
