Gregory Hendricks

The article titled Eradication of black rats Rattus Rattus from Anacapa Island written by Gregg Howald, Josh Donlan, Kate Faulkner, Steve Ortega, Holly Gellerman, Donald Croll, and Bernie Tershy studied the removal of an invasive species of rats from an island ecosystem.  Anacapa island is an  island off the coast of California in the California Channel Island chain east of Santa Cruz Island and north of Catalina. Their method of eradication was to disperse a rodenticide aerially staggered over 2 years.  The rodenticide they used was  brodifacoum, an anticoagulant which was incorporated into bait which they dropped upon the island.  They monitored soil quality,  populations of birds, and of a native rodent to ensure that the soil quality and the native populations remained with an impact was mitigated.  The native population of rodents (deer mouse) were eradicated along with Rattus Rattus, but they were successfully reintroduced, and recovered to pre-eradication levels quickly. Their method of mitigation for the bird populations was to capture birds who were susceptible to poisoning, such as the raptors which fed upon the rats. They also tested the marine environment for impacts and found that there was no significant impact on marine life from the use of brodifacoum.  This eradication proved to be an example of the cost and effort needed to eradicate harmful invasive rodent species fromm island ecosystems. The project cost 1.8 million dollars and involved the heavy mitigation measures required to keep native populations safe.